World Refrigeration Day: A Naturally Cool Celebration!

Today we celebrate the second-ever World Refrigeration Day, a global day of recognition for the refrigeration, air-conditioning, and heat pump sector. Thank you to our members and partners for your invaluable contributions to this critical industry!

This year, we’re celebrating World Refrigeration Day through our Naturally Cool Movement, which we launched to expand public awareness of natural refrigerants, drive support for the industry, and accelerate progress towards our mission of removing the barriers to the adoption of natural refrigerants.

NASRC has experienced tremendous support from industry stakeholders since our founding, which has been the driving force behind our progress. Expanding public awareness and support for our mission will provide new opportunities to build on the momentum we’ve created together and accelerate our progress even further.

Here’s what we’re doing to broaden public awareness this World Refrigeration Day:

Naturally Cool Video
Check out our special re-release of our Naturally Cool educational video. Meet Presley, the “King of Cool,” and learn about the impact of refrigerants in less than 1 minute! Watch the video here.

Natural Refrigerant Webinar
Want to learn even more about natural refrigerants and supermarkets? Watch our 25-minute on-demand webinar for a more in-depth overview. Watch the webinar here.

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With more individuals participating in our celebration, support for our mission will grow and our progress will be accelerated further. Please share on your social media or other social platforms. Feel free to share our social media posts directly:

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Nonprofit Tackles Climate Change and Makes Natural Refrigerants More Affordable

Mill Valley, California - The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants in supermarkets, is launching a new pilot program to offset the upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies.

“High upfront cost is the primary hurdle preventing the adoption of environmentally friendly natural refrigerants” says Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “Funding support is key to bridging the gap and stimulating the economies of scale necessary to bring costs down.” NASRC’s new Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) pilot is a free platform to coordinate various funding sources through a streamlined application process for food retailers.

 Traditional refrigerants contain Hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) extremely potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) that trap thousands of times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2), and have been named the fastest-growing source of GHG emissions globally. Commercial refrigeration systems, such as those in supermarkets and grocery stores, are the leading contributor to HFC emissions, releasing over 130 million pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions annually in the U.S. alone. Natural refrigerants - including ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons - are the most climate-friendly solution, but their adoption in the U.S. has been stalled due in large part to cost barriers.  

 New refrigerant regulations proposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) are driving a growing number of food retailers to consider natural refrigerants, making California an ideal location for the pilot of NASRC’s Aggregated Incentives Program. CARB has established an F-gas Reduction Incentive Program for climate-friendly refrigerants, but the allocated budget will only support a few natural refrigerant projects. AIP is designed to bridge the funding gap with outside funding sources to maximize the number of natural refrigerant projects. 

“Our goal is to secure enough funding to make these projects possible while simplifying the experience for the retailers,” comments Wright. “We also expect the pilot to generate a tremendous amount of data that will contribute to industry knowledge about naturals, further promoting their growth.”

The pilot program will be offered at no-cost to applicants thanks to the generous sponsorship of NASRC Titanium members, including BITZER US, Climate Pros, CoolSys, and Hillphoenix. NASRC is accepting preliminary AIP applications through the end of June 2020. Learn more or apply at nasrc.org/aggregated-incentives-program.

NASRC Joins 1% for the Planet as Nonprofit Partner

The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) has joined 1% for the Planet as a nonprofit partner, introducing new opportunities for funding support to accelerate our mission and drive industry progress.

Founded in 2002, 1% for the Planet’s mission is to increase the amount of charitable giving directed towards environmental causes. The organization strives to connect philanthropic businesses, who pledge to donate 1% of their gross sales, with high-impact nonprofits, like NASRC.

“The intent of 1% for the Planet is to help fund these diverse environmental organizations so that collectively they can be a more powerful source in solving the world’s problems,” writes Yvon Chouinard, co-founder of 1% for the Planet.

Since our founding, we have experienced tremendous support from the supermarket industry. Our membership network now represents more than 130 industry stakeholders - including 24,000 supermarket locations in the United States – that contribute directly to our mission to eliminate the barriers preventing natural refrigerant adoption in supermarkets. 

The support we’ve received from industry stakeholders has been the driving force behind our mission and has positioned us to make meaningful progress. Introducing new support from philanthropic businesses and individuals would expand our capacity tremendously, increasing our ability to take swift action and drive significant industry progress. 

“We are thrilled to join 1% for the Planet and are grateful for the opportunity to connect with businesses and individuals looking to support nonprofits like us,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “We look forward to leveraging new relationships and opportunities to accelerate our mission and drive a meaningful impact.”

Learn more by viewing NASRC’s 1% for the Planet profile here.

Is A Naturally Cool Video the Key to State Incentives for Low-GWP Refrigerants?

The regulatory landscape for commercial refrigeration is quickly changing as individual states begin to ramp up regulations to phase down hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs). These high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants have come into focus as one of the most effective ways for states to reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions. However, these refrigerant regulations have significant financial implications for the supermarket industry. Incentive programs have the power to fast track the adoption of climate-friendly low-GWP refrigerants and more effectively accomplish state emissions reduction goals, but these programs need broader public support to get the funding they need.

The NASRC recently launched a new environmentally-focused movement called Naturally Cool to raise awareness about climate-friendly natural refrigerants and the environment. On Earth Day, we announced the first project of the movement, a high-impact educational video that will increase public awareness of natural refrigerants and the environment.

“Virtually no one outside our industry knows about the impact of refrigerants on the environment or the enormous burden supermarkets face in moving to climate-friendly refrigerants. As a result, financial support for the industry to adopt low-GWP refrigerant technologies has been limited.”

-Danielle Wright, Executive Director of the NASRC

We plan to leverage this increased public awareness to accelerate and add strength to our core initiatives that benefit the commercial refrigeration industry, such as our push for incentive programs that offset upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies.

“The situation in California is a great example of how resources like our video could make a real difference,” said Wright.

In 2018, the California Cooling Act established an incentive program to help offset the cost premiums of low-GWP refrigerant technologies. However, despite support from the supermarket community, the incentive program went unfunded in the state’s proposed 2019-20 budget. We believe that is due, in part, to a lack of public pressure.

“California constituents can’t push for the incentive program to receive funding if they have never been exposed to this topic, and as a result don’t understand the need,” said Wright. “A simple resource to help folks understand the importance of this issue is a critical step towards establishing a well-funded and impactful incentive program.”

Impact starts with awareness, and we aim to accelerate our impact with this simple, 60-second animated video followed by subsequent projects under the Naturally Cool Movement.

“If done right, a video can be entertaining, educational, and easy to share,” said Wright. “It is the best form of media to get our message out to the broadest audience.”

We also launched a fundraiser and are asking for donations to allow us to develop and promote this educational resource, which can be accessed here: https://www.gofundme.com/naturallycoolvideo.

 Read more about the Naturally Cool Movement and how to get involved here: http://nasrc.org/naturallycool.

NASRC Launches NEW Naturally Cool Movement to Raise Natural Refrigerant Awareness

The NASRC is excited to announce the launch of a new environmentally-focused movement called Naturally Cool, which is designed to raise awareness about natural refrigerants and the environment.

The NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on taking action to eliminate the barriers preventing the adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets. Natural refrigerants, including ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons, are climate-friendly alternatives to commonly-used hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which have been identified as the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions globally.

Project Drawdown, which compiled 100 data-driven solutions to reverse global warming, named refrigerant management the number one global climate solution. Despite the global impact and importance of this topic, there has been a remarkable lack of attention and exposure around this topic and natural refrigerants. As a result, support for the industry to transition to climate-friendly natural refrigerants has been limited.

“Over the past three years, we’ve received tremendous support from supermarket industry stakeholders, who have been the driving force behind our accomplishments to date. What we’ve realized is that a lack of awareness of natural refrigerants outside of the industry is slowing our impact. We’re trying to change that with Naturally Cool.”

-Danielle Wright, Executive Director of the NASRC

Though the NASRC has made great strides towards accomplishing our mission, our work has become increasingly urgent as more climate reports have warned that we are already experiencing catastrophic impacts of climate change, which are expected to intensify at a rate faster than any point in modern history if we do not act now. Furthermore, scientists have estimated that unless something changes, emissions from HFCs could contribute to a rise in global temperatures up to 0.5°C.

“We are running out of time to address the impact of refrigerants on the climate. We need to think and act bigger by leveraging broader support and awareness from the public to accelerate our progress and create new opportunities to expand support for the natural refrigerants and the industry.”

-Danielle Wright, Executive Director of the NASRC

Read more about the Naturally Cool Movement and how to get involved here: http://nasrc.org/naturallycool.