Short takes
Short Takes – By Michael Garry & Elke Milner
NONPROFIT FORMED TO HELP GROCERS ADOPT NATURALS CAREL WATERLOOP SYSTEM GOOD WITH NATURALS
A group of companies from different sectors of the supermarket refrigeration industry in late September announced the formation of the Santa Cruz-Calif.-based North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC).
Supporting growing interest in microchannel commercial refrigeration systems as an alternative to central systems, Carel is promoting its Heos System DC compressor waterloop system.
The nonprofit group’s mission is to help the supermarket industry transition to environmentally friendly natural refrigerants (such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and ammonia) from traditional synthetic refrigerants that deplete the ozone layer and/or contribute significantly to global warming.
Factory-tested to improve ease of installation, flexibility and energy efficiency, the system is suited for use with natural refrigerants propane and carbon dioxide. In grocery and convenience store applications, it eliminates the need for a compressor rack, and accommodates a wider and flexible sales area. Carel engineer Tommaso Ferrarese, explaining the system at the ATMOsphere America conference, held in Atlanta in June, described it as “a new frontier for natural refrigerants.” He outlined a test in which the system, using free cooling, operated more efficiently with propane than R410A in several U.S. cities. The system consists of plug-in units with DC inverter compressors and an on-board water condenser connected with a water loop system for condenser heat management. The heat of condensation is carried outside the store via the water loop, which is in turn cooled by an outdoor dry cooler. The system offers 25% energy savings thanks to high-efficiency DC compressors. EM
NASRC’s founding members include a food retailer (Whole Foods Market), service contractor (Source Refrigeration & HVAC), system manufacturers (Hillphoenix, Carter Retail Equipment and True Manufacturing), component manufacturers (Danfoss and Parker Hannifin) and a refrigerant consultant (KW Refrigerant Management Strategy). Its executive director is Liz Whiteley, formerly an environmental scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency. “The purpose of the organization is to bring together stakeholders who believe that advancing natural refrigerants is a win-win for the environment and business,” said Whiteley, in a statement. “Today, we finally have proven technologies that use natural refrigerants, but we need to achieve economies of scale in order to have a dramatic impact on our climate footprint.” NASRC’s first-year priorities will center on training service technicians to work with natural refrigerants; helping to establish local building codes; encouraging utilities to establish incentives for natural refrigerant use; and working with the EPA and equipment-certification organizations to speed up approval of alternative refrigerant technologies.
Tommaso Ferrarese, Carel
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Accelerate America October 2015
Some food retailers, such as Whole Foods Market, are piloting natural refrigerant solutions. “We have the technology. We know what needs to be done,” said Tristam Coffin, sustainable facilities coordinator at Whole Foods Market. “It’s a question of overcoming hurdles so we can move ahead as fast as we’d like.” MG