Sprouts honored for green refrigeration technology

Washington, D.C. Sprouts Farmers Market, Phoenix, has received two more silver store certification awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for building stores that will have sharply reduced their impact on the Earth’s ozone layer and climate system compared with typical grocery stores.

“Sprouts Farmers Market is committed to continuing our efforts in green refrigeration technology focusing on the reduction of emissions of harmful HFC’s and the reduction of our carbon footprint, said Jerry Stutler, VP construction and facility engineering for Sprouts Farmers Market, which operates 54 stores.

New Sprouts stores in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Centennial, Colo., have earned silver-level certification from the EPA’s GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership. The partnership enlists supermarkets to reduce refrigerant emissions that damage the ozone layer and contribute to global warming.

Sprouts now has four stores that have qualified for certification awards under GreenChill’s tough standards. Just 30 of the nation’s 35,000 grocery stores have qualified for certification under the GreenChill program.

To achieve silver certification, a store must meet stringent environmental criteria, including the following:

• Use refrigerants that do not damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer;
• Reduce the size of its refrigerant charge by at least 50% from the industry average;
• Reduce annual refrigerant emissions to 15% or less of total store capacity; and
• Test refrigeration systems for adherence to GreenChill’s leak tightness guidelines.