Fresh & Easy and Hill Phoenix collaborate on GreenChill Platinum store
Folsom, Calif. -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market received the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership’s highest award — Platinum-Level Store Certification — for green refrigeration technology at its new store in Folsom, Calif. It is just the second store in California, and one of just supermarkets in the nation, to achieve platinum certification.
A typical supermarket in the United States uses approximately 3,500 lbs. of refrigerant. By contrast, the new Fresh & Easy store uses just 70 lbs. – a 98% reduction.
“Using new natural refrigerants puts Fresh & Easy on the forefront of sustainability in our industry and ultimately makes these emerging technologies more cost effective for everyone,” said Steve Hagen, director of procurement and engineering at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.
The store utilizes a Second Nature compact chiller system from Hill Phoenix that uses medium-temperature glycol to condense low-temperature CO2. So far, it is the only supermarket in the nation using this type of system, according to Hill Phoenix.
“Fresh & Easy selected a Second Nature Compact Chiller system that effectively eliminates all HFCs from the store’s refrigeration system by using medium temperature glycol to condense the low temperature CO2,” explained Henry Pellerin, director, marketing programs for Hill Phoenix. “This is typically achieved with an HFC refrigerant.”
GreenChill’s Store Certification Program is the only certification program that focuses on greener refrigeration. The program’s chief goal is to reduce refrigerant emissions from supermarkets that damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer and contribute to global warming. A pound of leaked refrigerant can cause more global warming than 2,000 lbs.-4,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide.
Fresh & Easy joined EPA’s GreenChill Partnership in 2009. The company received EPA’s Annual Environmental Achievement Award in 2011 for having the most GreenChill Store Certifications in the nation.