The GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, an EPA cooperative alliance with the supermarket industry and suppliers to promote advanced technologies, strategies, and practices that reduce emissions of stratospheric ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases, was launched last November.

 

Since then it has nearly tripled its membership and prevented emissions of 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, equal to the annual emissions of almost 500,000 cars. GreenChill now has a total of 28 partners, including 19 supermarket chains, four advanced refrigeration systems manufacturers and five chemical manufacturers. These new partners include Arkema and INEOS Fluor Americas, among others. GreenChill partners are working to meet their goals with approaches such as improving equipment leak tightness at installation, developing a Retrofits Best Practices Guideline, and setting goals to convert more supermarkets to advanced refrigeration technologies.

Compared to the rest of the supermarket industry, GreenChill partners are already emitting fewer ozone-depleting refrigerants and greenhouse gases than their competitors, and saving money at the same time. The partners' savings in operating costs equal almost $13 million. If every supermarket in the USA joined GreenChill and reduced their emissions to the current GreenChill average, the industry could prevent the release of 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and 157 ozone-depleting potential tons annually, reveals the entity’s press release.