Thanks to a government partnership, some of the nation's largest supermarket owners have been taking a bite out of the millions of pounds of refrigerant that leak into the air each year.
Direct expansion systems, which are used by 70 percent of food retail stores, often leak more than 20 percent of the 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of refrigerant they use, on average, per year. That leakage has significant environmental impacts considering that the most common refrigerants are made of ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorcarbons (HFC), meaning they contain harmful greenhouse gases.
Five years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency created the GreenChill partnership to help solve the problem. It works with food retailers to help them transition to greener refrigerants and less-leaky refrigeration systems, and offers certification -- and awards -- for individual stores and corporate chains alike.
So far, its GreenChill program includes 54 food retailers with a total of 8,000 stores, representing about 20 percent of the supermarket industry, according to Cindy Newberg, head of the alternatives and emissions-reduction branch of the EPA's Stratospheric Protection Division.
Regional chain stores make up most of the partners, but some independent stores – as well as a couple of large companies, such as Target, also have joined. Among its certified partners, refrigeration leakage averages less than 10 percent, compared to much higher levels pre-certification, Newberg says.
How to get certified
When retailers express interest in joining GreenChill, the EPA helps stores sift through options, using information shared from other stores, as well as an extensive GreenChill website and webinars.
Newberg stresses that the agency doesn't recommend specific refrigerant fluids or cooling systems, but educates partners on the variety of fluids and technologies available.
Obtaining store certification can take as little as one week. The EPA mainly looks at the system design and the fluids it uses.
But the certification process requires an in-depth knowledge of refrigeration system application and design, according to Paul Anderson, who oversees the program at Target. The large retail chain, which debuted a grocery section in many of its stores in 2010, says that all 1,763 of its stores are part of the GreenChill program.
Anderson suggests a seven-step process to obtain certification: understanding the EPA's criteria, verifying that it is met, selecting the right technology, making a financial commitment, designing and executing a solution, overseeing installation and verifying its operation.
While Target already met the requirements to be a GreenChill partner, it had to modify its refrigeration-equipment design to meet the store certification criteria, Anderson says.
Photo of a supermarket by Adisa via Shutterstock.
Next page: Albertsons' parent company, SuperValu
"A silkworm spins all its
"A silkworm spins all its silk until its loss of life and a candle is not going to stop its tears right until it is actually fully burnt."
I totally appreciate programs
I totally appreciate programs like Greenchill for the focus that they put on reducing leakage rather than focussing on HFC "bashing". I realize that in the current environment it is very unpopular to promote HFC's, however please keep in mind that they are still by far the most used refrigerant in the industry. Many practical studies have already shown that, at this moment, naturals do not necessarily improve the CO2 emissions during the lifetime of an installation. 75% of the emissions of a refrigeration system come from energy usage and this far e.g. CO2 systems have been showing less energy efficiency than equivalent, well controlled and regulated, HFC systems in moderate and warm climates. But the efficiency is not the biggest problem...if policy makers would take the time to discuss with installers, they would find out that issues like lack of components, lack of funds for training, lack of knowledge, peak power issues,... are a far bigger problem than the actual efficiency.The people in the industry are not communicating heavily on these issues as it is rather unpopular to do so, however none of the people I have talked with in the last years has indicated that they believe in an HFC-less world at this stage.
The big advantage of programs like GreenChill is that they focus on reducing leakage, an issue that I think deserves far more attention than the continuous fight of the "green" lobby for natural refrigerants. To put it in the words of a key person at one of the main supermarket chains in Europe : "if the refrigerant stays in the system what is then the use of all this discussion about future refrigerants."
Don't understand me wrongly, if we are able to make natural refrigerant systems with equal efficiency, that can be serviced and maintained in a relatively easy way without any danger for the technicians I'll be the first to cheer for them, however we are not there yet and the technology needs to get the time to mature before it is implemented on large scale and in all circumstances.
I find Anderson's statement
I find Anderson's statement that new technology that use low GWP refrigerants tend to consume more electricity highly unlikely. I suggest GreenBiz ask for a comment from the Consumer Goods Forum. This organisation of multinational food retailers and food suppliers is committed to converting to natural refrigerants because they are both commercially and environmentally superior. Are they wrong?
It is also not helpful to refer to the conversion to "new technology" . Lets call a spade a spade. We are converting from fluorocarbon HVAC&R technology to Natural Refrigerant based technologies because the latter have no/low GWP in direct emissions (refrigerant leakage) and are more energy efficient.
This is the reality, a global confrontation of natural refrigerant technologies vs fluorocarbon technologies.
Having said that it is about time that Green Biz engaged with this topic. Thank you. Please continue.
In Australia we estimate that HVAC&R consumes 23% of national electricity production and contributes at least 3% of National emissions due to refrigerant leakage alone. National GHG emissions due to both factors is about 10%. The opportunity for reduction via Natural Refrigerant based technologies is considered to be about 50% of the GHG emissions associated with HVAC&R.