AbstractIn coastal cities, a large amount of cold energy is released into the nearby seawater during the process of regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the receiving terminal, and meanwhile, a large amount of exported and/or imported foods need to be frozen by bulk cold energy near the sea. In this paper, a new multistage cold energy recovery/utilization system is investigated to link the LNG cold energy directly to supply the coastal cold store. This design uses a realistic case in Ningbo LNG receiving station in China, and for the very first time considers how to utilize the LNG cold energy in an efficient manner regarding the technical, economic, and environmental benefits. A three‐stage LNG cold energy utilization system is designed and evaluated by considering different temperatures, pressures, and heat exchange parameters. Compared to conventional electric‐driven cold stores, the proposed multistage cold energy recovery/utilization system has a much cheaper capital cost during the initial investment stage, and also avoids the utility power consumption during the daily operation period. In the case study, from Ningbo LNG receiving station to a 10 MW class cold store, the proposed multienergy system can save the energy of 20.05 kilotons of standard coal, and the carbon emission reduction is up to 1.49 × 108 kg per year.