Distributors’ group joins “naturals” body

USA: HARDI, the group representing US HVACR distributors, has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC).

NASRC is a nonprofit taking action to create a more climate-friendly future for supermarket refrigeration. HARDI, Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International, represents nearly all US refrigerant distributors and wholesalers in the refrigeration market.

“We recognize the importance of supporting responsible energy consumption and understand the challenges of implementing sustainable practices in an established market,” said HARDI vice president government affairs & business development Jon Melchi. “To that end, we fully support the NASRC and are proud to join them in their efforts to help sustainable refrigerants gain a foothold in the HVACR supply chain.”

Keilly Witman is the former head of EPA’s GreenChill Partnership and one of the founders of NASRC. “We’re very excited to welcome HARDI on board,” says Witman, owner of KW Refrigerant Management Strategy and a member of the NASRC board of directors. “The key to our success is bringing all industry stakeholders to the table, and HARDI brings a critical piece of the puzzle in the form of refrigerant wholesalers and distributors.”

NASRC’s members include service contractors, systems manufacturers, policy specialists, component manufacturers, supermarket end-users and now refrigerant distributors, dedicated to helping the supermarket industry transition to natural refrigerants.

“Natural refrigerants—as an entire suite of technologies—offer environmentally appealing solutions that can fit every store format, size and geographic location,” says NASRC executive director Liz Whiteley. “The catch is that right now there are hurdles in the marketplace that are preventing the widespread adoption of these technologies. Our mission is simple: address those hurdles and allow natural refrigerants to prove themselves as a climate-friendly, energy efficient solution for retail food refrigeration.”