NASRC Welcomes Frank Davis, Mike Ellinger, and Doug Milu to Board of Directors

Frank Davis, Mike Ellinger, and Doug Milu

NASRC has recently welcomed three new Directors to our Board: Frank Davis of Grocery Outlet, Mike Ellinger of Whole Foods Market, and Doug Milu of Publix Super Markets. Together, they have a combined 78 years of experience in the commercial refrigeration industry.

Frank Davis is the Director of Refrigeration Engineering, Energy & Sustainability at Grocery Outlet. Prior to joining Grocery Outlet, Frank was the Director of Facility Engineering with Sprouts Farmers Market. When Frank joined Sprouts Farmers Market, they only had 31 stores. He helped them design and grow their store footprint to 340 stores within 10 years, all with sustainability in mind.  

Frank has brought that focus on sustainability to the NASRC Board of Directors. “I chose to join the Board of Directors to collaborate with the top leaders in the supermarket refrigeration industry to make a difference and help retailers with solutions on engineer refrigeration system with a sustainable approach,” said Davis, “My goal of joining the NASRC is to create a template with options that retailers or small business owners can use to be more sustainable with their refrigeration mechanical systems.” 

Mike Ellinger, Global Principal Program Manager of Engineering, Compliance and Sustainability for Whole Foods Market, shares Frank’s enthusiasm for sustainable refrigeration. “Natural refrigerants have been a passion of mine since I installed some of our first systems over 10 years ago,” said Ellinger. “Natural refrigerants have come a long way in the last 5 years, but we still have more work to do to remove the barriers. I look forward to working with our Board leadership and members to make a significant impact for our industry.” Mike joined Whole Foods Market in 1997 as part of the Sustainable Facilities Team and currently works to develop and implement MEPR programs aligning with the company’s sustainability goals.

Doug Milu is a seasoned professional bringing 38 years of experience in supermarket refrigeration, installation, service and maintenance to his position. As the Refrigeration & Energy Program Manager for Publix Super Markets, Doug oversees Publix's refrigeration and HVAC equipment specifications, installation specifications, and provides input on future refrigeration designs. Doug’s core team also facilitates research and development of advanced technologies in refrigeration systems, energy management and sustainability.

“I see this organization as a forum for input and collaboration surrounding many of the challenges grocery retailers face in adopting a more sustainable refrigeration architecture,” said Milu. “NASRC and its contributors seek answers to these challenges through an unbiased approach that provides real world options for those end users wanting to adopt new technologies. I am honored to be associated with NASRC, and I'm excited to help drive change in our industry.”

“We are thrilled to have Frank’s, Mike’s, and Doug’s voices on the Board of Directors,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “The experience they bring as experts in the industry and on the challenges facing end-users is invaluable.”

Read more about Frank, Doug, Mike, and the rest of the NASRC Board of Directors here.     

New CARB Proposal Represents Successful Collaboration with California Retailers

Sacramento, California – At the January California Air Resources Board (CARB) public workshop, CARB announced changes to the proposed rules for stationary refrigeration systems, which were the result of a successful collaboration between CARB and California retailers over the preceding several months.

CARB first announced the rulemaking for the HFC reduction measures - which aim to reduce emissions of Hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs) typically found in supermarkets - in October of 2017. The rulemaking was driven by California legislation, which established the State’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and specifically to reduce HFC emissions to 40% below 2013 levels by 2030.

The original proposal called for all newly installed refrigeration equipment, whether installed in a new or existing facility, to use refrigerants with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) below 150. Natural refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide, ammonia, and propane are zero or near zero GWP solutions, but are challenging and costly to install in existing facilities because they require a full system replacement.

“The proposed definition for new equipment risked an unintended consequence to halt all upgrade and retrofit work across existing stores to avoid triggering the <150 GWP requirement,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC). “Not only would this be bad business for grocers, but it would have ultimately prevented CARB from achieving their emissions targets.”

Following a public technical working group meeting in August of 2019, several California retailers approached the NASRC with a request to facilitate a different proposal that would come directly from the retailers and still meet CARB’s emissions reduction goals. The retailer group, which represented the majority of supermarket locations in California, convened in late-September to develop an alternative proposal. This new proposal recommended that for the <150 GWP requirement, new equipment be defined solely as new store construction or a complete system replacement.

To compensate for the reduced emissions reductions from the restricted definition of new equipment, the retailers proposed a Greenhouse Gas Potential (GHGp) program for existing stores, designed to reduce overall emissions across a chain while allowing flexibility at the store level. Under the GHGp program, retailers would reduce their emissions through lower-GWP refrigerants, charge reductions, or a combination of both, giving them the flexibility to determine which stores to retrofit to meet the target.

CARB was receptive to the retailer proposal and suggested a target of 55% GHGp reduction from a 2018 baseline by 2030. CARB also proposed an alternative hybrid approach, which would require retailers to meet a chain-wide “weighted-average GWP” target of 1400 by 2030. The intention of both programs was to give retailers the maximum possible flexibility while also ensuring CARB’s emission reduction target is achieved.

To support the transition to low-GWP refrigerants, CARB has established an F-gas Reduction Incentive Program (FRIP), which has received $1 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The program will launch for project solicitation this Summer.

“While this is a great example of a successful collaboration between California retailers and CARB, the regulations still present a challenge for retailers,” said Wright. “The launch of the incentive program is an important step to support the transition to low-GWP refrigerants, and our goal is to help bring more funds to the table.”

This proposal has yet to be finalized by the Board and CARB continues to seek feedback and stakeholder input, which can be sent to HFCReduction@arb.ca.gov or to Richie Kaur at richie.kaur@arb.ca.gov. Comments on FRIP are requested by March 15th and can be submitted to Aanchal Kohli at Aanchal.Kohli@arb.ca.gov. The materials from CARB’s workshop are available here.

For more information, please contact info@nasrc.org.

Sprouts' Frank Davis Joins NASRC Board of Directors

NASRC is thrilled to welcome Frank Davis, Director of Facility Engineering for Sprouts Farmers Market, to the NASRC Board of Directors.

Frank has over 20 years’ experience with supermarket refrigeration and HVAC mechanical systems. Frank joined Sprouts Farmers Market when they only had 31 stores and help them design and grow their store footprint to 340 stores within 10 Years.  The direction was to grow responsible and find solutions and technologies that provide long term sustainable goals.

“I chose to join the Board of Directors to collaborate with the top leaders in the supermarket refrigeration industry to makes a different and help retailers with solutions on engineer refrigeration system with a sustainable approach,” said Davis. “My goal of joining the NASRC is to create a template with options that retailers or small business owners can use to be more sustainable with their refrigeration mechanical systems.”

Read more about Frank Davis and the rest of the NASRC Board of Directors here.