Tag: refrigeration equipment

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Opportunity in a Snap

    First published in Accelerate America Magazine November 2014 Those who pay attention to the goings-on at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have probably noticed the recent proposal by the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program to make it illegal to use certain HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) refrigerants that are potent global warming gases in new commercial refrigeration…

  • 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…

  • What’s All the Hubbub, Bub?

    First published in Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer Magazine September 2014 What’s legal, and what’s not, under EPA’s proposed new rule? Will 134a be banned? Do you have to use natural refrigerants as of 2016? Here are the answers — well, at least some of them. A few weeks ago, the EPA pro­posed a new rule that…