Advanced Refrigeration for Supermarkets, US
Location
United States
SDGs Certified
6
Solution Type
Energy Efficiency
Project Type
Carbon Reduction
Fact File
🧪 This project uses refrigerants that emit zero PFAS (“forever chemicals” that contaminate our water supply and take over a thousand years to break down).
🍎 This initiative is complemented by a Food Loss Diversion Program aimed at preventing edible items from reaching landfills, thereby supporting community food needs.
📄 The project proves additionality by implementing refrigerant replacements that are not required by law, thereby going above and beyond regulatory requirements.
Partnership &
Certification
About this Project
The Problem
Refrigerants are a necessary ingredient in the production of large commercial systems for retail food. These refrigerants contain chemicals that release GHGs during manufacture, operation, and end-of-life. Most refrigerants in the market today are HFCs and, while safer for the ozone layer, they are still powerful GHGs when released into the atmosphere. Bill Gates' 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster' calls F-Gases used in traditional AC and refrigeration "extremely powerful contributors to climate change". This project directly addresses this problem.
The Solution
The project delivers an upgrade to refrigeration systems in supermarkets across multiple states by transitioning to low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants: R-744 (CO2), R-290 (Propane) and zero-ODP Refrigerant. These system types often result in increased efficiency gains, as well as significant savings in refrigerant costs throughout the system lifetime. However, switching to low GWP systems costs a premium vs. a legacy HFC system. Carbon offsets are therefore used to mitigate the price difference, outweighing supermarket owners' concerns of adopting a new technology.
Project Location
SDG Contributions
