Raley’s honored for green refrigeration technology

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded Raley’s Supermarket with a GreenChill gold-level award for innovative green refrigeration technology in its newest supermarket, which opened Wednesday in Tracy, Calif.

The GreenChill Partnership works with supermarket industries through a cooperative alliance to reduce their emissions of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases.

Raley’s leads the industry in certified stores, with five sites in California earning either gold or silver certification. Gold-level certified stores are located in Tracy, Petaluma and San Jose, Calif., and silver-level certified stores are located in San Pablo and Mountain View, Calif.

Raley’s new refrigeration system uses a significantly smaller charge of refrigerant gases than traditional systems. These systems significantly reduce refrigerant emissions.

The EPA estimates that if all U.S. supermarkets reduced emissions to the current GreenChill average, the nation could save the equivalent of 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 240 ozone-depleting potential tons each year -- equal to the annual emissions from more than four million cars. The cost savings would be approximately $108 million in refrigerant expenses annually.