Tag: Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer

  • ‘Someone Else’ Has to Be Us!

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine October 2015 A new non-profit group, including Whole Foods and several vendors, aims to work together to hasten the spread of natural refrigerants.   A few weeks ago, a group of environ­mental leaders in supermarket refrigeration formed a new non-profit group called the North American Sustainable Refrigeration…

  • Certainty is Better Than Nothing

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine August 2015 The Environmental Protection Agency announced two final rules on July 2, finally putting to rest the angst and uncertainty of equipment manufacturers who have been so vocal about their hardships during the past year. Supermarkets now have a clearer roadmap to guide their refrigerant choice,…

  • 608 Compliance Rests on Shaky Foundation

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine July 2015 How much R-22 is really in your racks? It may be a lot less than you’re claiming, and that could spell big trouble. The relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Section 608 regulated community is nor­mally anything but agreeable. Yet in one respect,…

  • Bidding Adieu to R-22

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine June 2015 But which new refrigerant, and when? Competing goals lead to indecision. Now that the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized the country’s R-22 phaseout plan, super­market refrigeration teams are trying to come to some conclusions about when and how to get out of R-22. The decision has…

  • Centralize Refrigeration Management

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine May 2015 Store level programs can hide huge dollar losses from refrigeration leaks. People often ask me to name the single most effective way to cut supermarket refrigeration leaks, based on my time heading up the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership. My response usually surprises them: Your first priority…

  • Time to Overhaul 608

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine April 2015 Special interests want to expand Section 608 refrigerant leak regula­tions. But what it needs is a major overhaul. The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, a Washington, D.C., special interest group, petitioned the EPA last year to expand Section 608 refrigerant leak repair regulations to include…

  • Ready for Prime Time?

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine March 2015 Moveable, self-contained hydrocarbon cases may be in your future. Imagine a world where merchandising people and refrigeration people live in perfect harmony. Most people who work in one of these two areas will claim to get along fine, but behind the scenes they’ll admit to…

  • The Great Divide

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine January 2015 Are you looking in the right places for unbiased opinions about your systems and refrigerants? One of the first things I learned about refrigerants and supermarkets is that there is never one right answer, regardless of the question. Doors on cases? It depends on lots of…

  • The Final Word on R-22

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine November 2015 EPA’s determination means a lot less virgin refrigerant will be available. But nobody knows how much R-22 has been stockpiled, or what will happen to pricing. A few weeks ago, the EPA issued its final determi­nation on the amount of virgin R-22 allowed to be…

  • What Is Your Used R-22 Worth?

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine October 2014 About five years ago at the FMI Energy Conference, I gave a plenary presenta­tion on the EPA’s R-22 phaseout. I posed a question to the audience: Why were supermar­kets paying people to come and haul away their used R-22? I commented, admittedly somewhat facetiously, that…