WASHINGTON, D.C. — Membership in the GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, a voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection program, has tripled since its kick-off in November.

All told, the program’s 28 supermarket partners have saved nearly $13 million in operating costs. Along the way, the partners have avoided emissions of 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The program was meant to help the supermarkets curb greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting emissions related to refrigeration systems. Partners must determine a baseline measurement of corporate-wide refrigerant emissions from 2007 and embark on a reduction plan this year.

To reduce emissions, supermarkets are trying to prevent leakage by improving equipment tightness at installation and creating a best practice guide for equipment retrofits. Many are setting goals to convert equipment to take advantage of more advanced refrigeration technologies.

New technologies tend to be more energy efficient, need less maintenance, improve the shelf life of food and produce fewer emissions.

Nineteen of the programs are supermarket chains; five chemical manufacturers and four advanced refrigeration systems manufacturers also have joined the program. The partners are: ACME Markets, Albertsons Intermountain West, Albertsons/Lucky Southern California, biggs, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh Food and Pharmacy, Hornbacher’s, Jewel/Osco, Price Chopper, Shaw’s/Star Markets, Shop ‘n Save-St. Louis, Shoppers Food and Pharmacy, Supervalu Inc., Arkema, Dow Chemical, INEOS Fluor Americas, Hussmann Corp., and Zero-Zone.