Tag: utilities

  • Your customers should understand sustainable refrigeration just enough to care

    First published in Fresh Thinking July 2015 The difference between mediocre communication and compelling communication lies in your message’s credibility, appeal, relevance, and distinctiveness. However, just like in refrigeration, when you fail to look at the whole picture, you wind up changing certain elements only to bring others out of whack. You lower your head pressure…

  • 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…

  • Tips For Obtaining Utility Incentives

    First published in Accelerate America Magazine June 2015 Here’s some advice for supermarkets on how to go about seeking incentive funding from utilities for natural-refrigerant projects. Accelerate America: Do you expect that utilities  around the U.S. will provide incentives for various supermarket systems that employ natural refrigerants? Keilly Witman: Yes, we’’ll see this happen over the…

  • 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…

  • Clearing the Cost Hurdle (part 2)

    First published in Accelerate America Magazine April 2015 On January 8th of this year in Berkeley, CA, Hillphoenix, Emerson Climate Technologies, and AHT Cooling Systems USA brought together supermarket refrigeration executives and representatives from the nation’s major utilities to discuss ways that utilities could help boost demand for energy-efficient natural refrigerant equipment. After discussing energy…

  • Clearing the Cost Hurdle (part 1)

    First published in Accelerate America Magazine March 2015  Those who look to natural refrigerants as the ultimate solution to the cycle of never-ending refrigerant phaseouts have been discussing for several years the hurdles that need to be overcome to accelerate their adoption in the U.S. Above all, the biggest hurdle is cost. As is usual…

  • 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…

  • 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…