NH3/CO2 cascade systems win EPA awards
USA: The first US installations of ammonia/CO2 cascade refrigeration systems has enabled two supermarkets to win US EPA “Best of the Best” GreenChill awards.
The Whole Foods Market in Dublin, California (pictured above), and a Piggly Wiggly store in Columbus, Georgia, are amongst just 13 companies in the US supermarket industry to be recognised by the Environmental Protection Agency for their achievements reducing emissions of environmentally harmful refrigerants.
“EPA’s GreenChill awardees are meeting the President’s challenge to curb emissions of these potent greenhouse gases head on,” said Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
“This year’s award winners are making the smart choice to act on climate by switching to environmentally friendly refrigerants and innovative technologies.”
The 3,800m² Whole Foods store was opened in May last year with the cascade system supplying an totally load of 70TR. The ammonia equipment charged with around 90kg of ammonia is installed on the roof with controlled access to the equipment area and leak detection with local and remote alarms.
The Piggly Wiggle store in Columbus was opened last September. It, too, uses an ammonia/CO2 cascade system providing 40TR. The Kysor/Warren system installed on the roof uses just 24kg of ammonia.
EPA’s GreenChill partners own approximately 10,800 stores nationwide, representing 29% of the US supermarket industry. The EPA estimates that if supermarkets nationwide reduced the amount of refrigerant they leak to the current GreenChill partner average, they could avoid $169m in refrigerant replacement costs while preventing the equivalent of 29 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The full list of winners can be found here.
