NASRC's Top 10 Accomplishments In 2021

2021 presented the industry with new challenges, but that didn't stop our members from stepping up to accelerate our mission more than ever before!
Here's a snapshot of our top 10 collective accomplishments from 2021:

Check out our top 10 collective accomplishments in 2021!

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1.Sustainable Refrigeration Summit

Hosted the first-ever Sustainable Refrigeration Summit to bring together over 900 supermarket refrigeration stakeholders, government agencies, and policymakers to address the challenges to achieving zero emissions in supermarket refrigeration.

2. Funding Support for Natural Refrigerants

Developed new sources of funding for natural refrigerants: Authored a federal tax credit proposal that is currently in circulation, secured a buyer for our carbon financing pilot, and advanced progress to solidify refrigerant GWP as a metric for utility incentives.

3. Modular Solutions for Existing Facilities

Accelerated technology solutions to enable the modular transition of existing stores to natural refrigerants. Published a report characterizing retailer demand for natural refrigerant-based condensing units to bring more products to the US market. Accelerated the approval of a higher R290 charge limit to increase available self-contained solutions.

4. Workforce Development

Drafted a CO2 curriculum for trade schools & community colleges with ESCO Group, industry stakeholders, and HVACR schools to help build a future workforce that is well-versed in natural refrigerants. Kicked off a workforce development plan to grow the technician workforce.

5. State Incentive Programs

Secured $880,000 in incentives for 12 natural refrigerant projects in California and coordinated the grant deliverables. Mobilized our members and partners to support additional program funding. Worked with other states to share lessons learned and outline future incentive programs.

6. Retailer Leak Reduction Initiative

Formed a Retailer Best Practices Committee to facilitate a retailer-driven leak reduction initiative. Retailers drafted equipment specifications to proactively reduce refrigerant leaks over the lifespan of a system.

7. Pilot Projects & Research Studies

Initiated new field studies and pilot projects on advanced refrigeration technologies to better understand energy performance and other ongoing costs of natural refrigerant solutions. Contributed to the design of a comprehensive M&V study as part of the CARB FRIP grant program.

8. Strengthened Member Network

Grew our membership network to nearly 150 organizations representing over 38,000 food retail locations. Members provided support to NASRC initiatives and participated in member activities, such as Progress Group meetings and monthly End-User Roundtable meetings.

9. Policymaker Engagement

Strengthened relationships with policymakers at the state and federal levels to inform effective policies that address challenges and support the transition to climate-friendly refrigerants. Evidenced by the 60+ policymaker attendees from the federal government and 16 states at our Sustainable Refrigeration Summit.

10. Education & Awareness

Increased awareness of natural refrigerants as a leading climate solution through media coverage, podcast interviews, and other speaking engagements to expand support for the transition away from HFCs.

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Thank you to our members, who are behind all of these achievements!
We look forward to building on the momentum we've created together in 2022.

NASRC Sustainable Refrigeration Summit Targets Zero Emissions in Grocery Refrigeration

August 11, 2021 - The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working in partnership with the grocery industry to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants, has announced that registration is now open for their Sustainable Refrigeration Summit. Hosted virtually from September 27 to October 8, this free event will bring together commercial refrigeration, energy, environmental, and policy stakeholders to address challenges and accelerate solutions to achieve a zero-emissions future for grocery refrigeration.

“Reducing refrigerant emissions is one of the most powerful and cost-effective strategies to achieve zero emissions,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “The Sustainable Refrigeration Summit is designed to bring together the technical know-how from the industry with the policies and infrastructure to support a successful transition away from harmful greenhouse gas refrigerants.”

The summit will feature daily live sessions that outline challenges and opportunities to achieve net zero emissions, including the impact of regulations, retailer strategies to reduce emissions, technology options, opportunities for funding and alignment with energy performance goals. In addition, presentations that feature various natural refrigerant technologies will be available on-demand throughout the event. Participants will gain knowledge on the latest regulatory and industry trends and hear directly from the grocers, industry experts, and policymakers that are shaping the future of sustainable refrigeration.

Commonly used hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are extremely potent greenhouse gases (GHG) growing faster than any other greenhouse gas on the planet. Recently enacted federal regulations, under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, will drive the phase-down of HFC production and consumption by 85 percent over the next 15 years. Additionally, there has been a growing trend of commitments and targets to reduce GHG emissions at the corporate, local community, and state level. This combination of pressures has triggered an industry-wide shift towards climate-friendly refrigeration technologies in the grocery sector.

Natural refrigerants, including ammonia, CO2, and hydrocarbons, have zero or near-zero GWP and are future-proof from a regulatory standpoint, but face a unique set of market barriers that have prevented their scaled adoption. Not only do these technologies come at an upfront cost premium compared to traditional HFC technologies, but natural refrigerants are also not a “drop-in” solution and require costly and logistically challenging full system replacement in the over 38,000 existing grocery stores in the US. NASRC’s Sustainable Refrigeration Summit will address these challenges and others to accelerate the solutions needed to achieve zero emissions in grocery stores.

“We can’t reach zero emissions in refrigeration without natural refrigerants,” said Wright. “To overcome the challenges and make meaningful progress we need all hands on deck, and that’s exactly what this summit is designed to do.” 

Summit participation is free thanks to the generous premium sponsorship of BITZER US, Climate Pros, CoolSys, Hillphoenix, Danfoss, and Hussmann and other summit sponsors. Learn more and register here.

About North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council
The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working in partnership with the grocery refrigeration industry to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by traditional refrigerants. The organization works with stakeholders from across the grocery refrigeration industry, including over 38,000 food retail locations, to eliminate the barriers preventing the adoption of natural refrigerants. For more information, visit www.nasrc.org.

Temprite Supports Efforts to Advance Natural Refrigerants by Joining NASRC

West Chicago, Illinois — Temprite, which manufactures commercial refrigeration components and offers products for all refrigerants, especially all natural refrigerants, has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) at the silver level. The NASRC is an action-oriented 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to creating a climate-friendly future for refrigeration through natural refrigerants.

The demand for natural refrigerants is on the rise as supermarkets face increasing legislative pressures to reduce their overall carbon footprint through energy efficiency and climate-friendly refrigerants.

Natural refrigerants, including ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, have zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP), making them a future-proof solution for increasing refrigerant regulations. The transition to natural refrigerants in supermarkets has been slow, however, because of barriers like high up-front costs, a lack of data around performance and other ongoing costs, and a shortage of trained service and maintenance technicians.

NASRC, in partnership with its 130-plus stakeholders from across the supermarket industry, is taking action to remove those barriers and make natural refrigerants a strong business choice for supermarkets. Temprite now joins their effort to help supermarkets transition to climate-friendly natural refrigerants.

“We chose to join the NASRC because we want to get the message out about how Temprite’s products are good for the environment in multiple ways, and they help save money by lowering electricity consumption and increasing refrigeration system capacity.  NASRC is an ideal platform for accomplishing those objectives,” said Jim Nonnie, Temprite’s President.

Temprite was founded in 1924 and now supplies energy-efficient coalescent and conventional oil separators, oil reservoirs, drier housings, liquid receivers, suction accumulators, and refrigerant oil management products. The company first introduced its components for CO2 transcritical refrigeration systems in 2006 and has been expanding its natural refrigeration solutions ever since.

“We provide supermarket energy managers and technicians with products, technical data, and practical equations they can use to quantify their energy and financial savings resulting from using Temprite’s products in natural refrigerants systems,” Nonnie continued.

“We’re pleased to welcome Temprite into our growing network,” said Morgan Smith, NASRC manager of programs & operations. “They’ve demonstrated a longstanding commitment to advancing energy efficient natural refrigerant solutions, and we look forward to leveraging their expertise to further accelerate our progress.”

In addition to Temprite, NASRC’s member network represents more than 24,000 US supermarket locations and stakeholders from throughout the commercial refrigeration industry, including service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

More information about Temprite can be found here: www.temprite.com.

NASRC's Top 10 Accomplishments In 2020

2020 has had its challenges, but thanks to tremendous participation and support from our members, NASRC made more progress towards our mission to eliminate the barriers to natural refrigerants than ever before.

Check out our top 10 collective accomplishments in 2020!

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1. Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) Pilot

Launched Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) to coordinate multiple sources of funding support for natural refrigerant projects in food retail applications through a streamlined application process.

2. Low-GWP & Energy Efficiency Expo

Convened 200+ supermarket refrigeration, energy management, and regulatory stakeholders for a 2-day event (pre-COVID) to accelerate progress towards a low-GWP and energy efficient future for supermarkets.

3. California HFC Regulations for Stationary Refrigeration

Facilitated the development of the alternate HFC regulatory proposal for stationary refrigeration in California with a retailer group representing the majority of supermarket locations in the state.

4. Carbon Financing Pilot

Developed a Carbon Financing Pilot to create a market for the supply & demand of refrigerant carbon-offset credits and ultimately leverage revenue from the sale of credits to offset the upfront costs of natural refrigerant projects.

5. CO2 Curriculum Development for Schools

Kicked off the development of a CO2 curriculum for trade schools & community colleges with ESCO Group, industry stakeholders, and HVACR schools to help build a future workforce that is well-versed in natural refrigerants.

6. Natural Refrigerant Technology Series & Library

Hosted an eight-week webinar series that included nineteen webinars featuring the latest natural refrigerant technologies. Developed our Natural Refrigerant Technology Library to host recordings on-demand at no cost.

7. Natural Refrigerant Contractor Directory

Created a downloadable Contractor Directory to help food retailers find installation & service contractors trained in natural refrigerants, which can be filtered by refrigerant type and geographic location.

8. Low-GWP Research Studies

Initiated field studies and pilot projects on advanced refrigeration technologies to compile data around energy performance and other ongoing costs of natural and low-GWP refrigerant solutions.

9. New NASRC Resources

Introduced new NASRC resources, including our Member Directory to highlight our members and the services they offer, our Resource Library to equip our network to learned about & advance natural refrigerants, and our Member Resource Library.

10. Education & Awareness

Increased awareness of natural refrigerants as a leading climate solution to expand support for the transition. Leveraged new educational platforms, such as the How To Save A Planet podcast and the TEDxReImagineScience event.

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Thank you to our members who are the driving force behind all of these achievements!
We look forward to building on the momentum we've created together in 2021.

New NASRC Resource Library

We're pleased to announce the launch of our new NASRC Resource Library - a collection of free tools & educational resources to help the supermarket industry, policymakers, environmental stakeholders, and interested individuals learn about & contribute to the advancement of natural refrigerants.

Browse the library for resources related to:

• Overview of Natural Refrigerants

• Incentives & Energy

• Contractors & Technicians

• Return On Investment

• Codes & Standards

• Best Practices

• Policy

Want to submit a resource to the library? Review the Resource Library Guidelines and submit a resource for review here.

Looking for more natural refrigerant resources? Check out our new Natural Refrigerant Technology Library, available for a limited time, and our refreshed NASRC Member Resource Library!