According to the US EPA Greenchill Partnership Progress Report 2011 published in September 2012, over $100 million (€77,5 million) and 22 billion kgCO2eq emissions could be saved annually if supermarkets nationwide reduced the amount of refrigerant leak to the current average of GreenChill Partners. This is the first report marking the progress of the initiative.
Four years after its launch, the GreenChill Partnership, an initiative of the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) aimed at reducing refrigerant emissions from supermarkets and decreasing the impact of supermarket refrigeration on ozone layer and climate change, makes up over 20% of the stores in the US, representing almost 7.700 supermarkets in all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Avoiding emissions from refrigerants
As a result of activities of the GreenChill Partners:
“GreenChill participants voluntarily go above and beyond regulatory requirements to reduce their harmful refrigerant emissions. Partners have already achieved impressive environmental results,” reads the 2011 Progress Report.
“Since the launch of GreenChill, people are arguing there is no acceptable leak rate. That’s an exciting change,” said Scott Martin, Director, Sustainable Technologies at Hill PHOENIX.
A growing partnership
Since the launch of the initiative, the interest of the retailers, advanced refrigeration system manufacturers as well as retrofit chemical and secondary fluid manufacturers has been constantly rising. Starting with just 10 founding Partners, the Greenchill Partnership base has increased more than five-fold within 4 years. The number of stores in the GreenChill Partnership has risen from 3.200 in 2007 to 7.693 at the end of 2011.
The report highlights that while the number of participating stores has increased by 140%, the average emissions per store have been reduced by 22% between 2007 and 2011.
End-user’s views on the Partnership
According to Richard Heath, Director Energy Innovations & Projects at SUPERVALU, “GreenChill is the perfect mixture of everything that leads to positive change: industry and government collaboration toward a common goal, measurable objectives and recognition for achieving them, a data driven approach to solutions, and the American competitive spirit.”
“Reporting emissions data through GreenChill and measuring our success versus all the GreenChill benchmarks has taught us a lot about our company. GreenChill was ahead of its time in using data to identify solutions to an important environmental problem, “ said Harrison Horning, Director of Energy & Facility Services, Delhaize America, parent company of Hannaford.
Avoiding emissions from refrigerants
As a result of activities of the GreenChill Partners:
- the avoided emissions from HFCs have increased from 1,53 billion kgCO2eq in 2007 to 4,12 billion kgCO2eq in 2011;
- the avoided emissions from ozone depleting substances (ODS) and HFCs combined have increased from 2,99 billion kgCO2eq in 2007 to 6,21 kgCo2eq in 2011.
“GreenChill participants voluntarily go above and beyond regulatory requirements to reduce their harmful refrigerant emissions. Partners have already achieved impressive environmental results,” reads the 2011 Progress Report.
“Since the launch of GreenChill, people are arguing there is no acceptable leak rate. That’s an exciting change,” said Scott Martin, Director, Sustainable Technologies at Hill PHOENIX.
A growing partnership
Since the launch of the initiative, the interest of the retailers, advanced refrigeration system manufacturers as well as retrofit chemical and secondary fluid manufacturers has been constantly rising. Starting with just 10 founding Partners, the Greenchill Partnership base has increased more than five-fold within 4 years. The number of stores in the GreenChill Partnership has risen from 3.200 in 2007 to 7.693 at the end of 2011.
The report highlights that while the number of participating stores has increased by 140%, the average emissions per store have been reduced by 22% between 2007 and 2011.
End-user’s views on the Partnership
According to Richard Heath, Director Energy Innovations & Projects at SUPERVALU, “GreenChill is the perfect mixture of everything that leads to positive change: industry and government collaboration toward a common goal, measurable objectives and recognition for achieving them, a data driven approach to solutions, and the American competitive spirit.”
“Reporting emissions data through GreenChill and measuring our success versus all the GreenChill benchmarks has taught us a lot about our company. GreenChill was ahead of its time in using data to identify solutions to an important environmental problem, “ said Harrison Horning, Director of Energy & Facility Services, Delhaize America, parent company of Hannaford.
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Sep 13, 2012, 11:35
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