Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions Joins NASRC as a Silver Member; Brings New Natural Refrigeration Solutions to the US Market

Warwick, Rhode Island — Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions, an international manufacturer of remote and plug-in refrigeration cabinets, walk-in coolers, and refrigeration systems and accessories, has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) as a Silver Member.

NASRC is an action-oriented 501c3 nonprofit working in partnership with every sector of the supermarket industry to advance the use of natural refrigerants and address the barriers preventing their widespread adoption.

“Viessmann is a family-owned company, highly dedicated to develop and promote technology that reduces the carbon footprint of our customers.  Our vision is “We create living spaces for the generations to come”, and the mission of NASRC to ensure natural refrigerants replace damaging HFC’s in refrigeration, aligns perfectly with our own values,” said Jørn Aalefjaer, Viessmann Business Development Director North America. 

Commonly used hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (HFCs) are extremely potent greenhouse gases growing faster than any other greenhouse gas on the planet. They trap heat in the atmosphere at thousands of times the rate of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Natural refrigerants, which include CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons, have zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP), making them a climate-friendly, future-proof alternative to HFCs. However, unique market challenges — such as upfront cost premiums, service readiness, and technology availability — have prevented the widescale adoption of natural refrigerants in US supermarkets.

The climate impact of HFCs has sparked a global transition away from legacy refrigerants. In Europe, for example, stringent regulations have accelerated the phase-out of HFCs, and natural refrigerants are becoming the new standard.

In the US, new regulatory pressures at the state and federal levels are beginning to drive the transition away from HFCs as well. The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act has directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase down production and consumption of HFCs in the United States by 85% by 2036, mirroring the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. The AIM Act also facilitates the transition to next-generation refrigeration technologies and establishes requirements for the management and reclamation of refrigerants.

Some states have enacted restrictions on HFCs that go beyond these federal requirements. California has introduced stringent regulations that will require the use of refrigerants with a GWP of less than 150 in new stores, as well as the reduction of GWP use in existing stores by 2030. Washington and New York are also establishing more stringent regulations that go beyond federal rules.

As a result, US food retailers are seeking technology solutions that support their efforts to transition to natural refrigerants.

Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions, with global headquarters in Germany, is bringing its natural refrigeration technology solutions to the US market for the first time. It has demonstrated a strong commitment to natural refrigerants, with systems that use CO2 and propane, for example. The company’s Tecto product portfolio includes remote and plug-in refrigeration cabinets, walk-in refrigerators and coolers, and refrigeration systems and accessories.

By introducing its products in the US, Viessmann will expand the technology options for food retailers and help support their efforts to shift away from HFCs.

“The movement, initiated by the AIM Act passing Congress in December, 202, towards the use of natural refrigerants in commercial refrigeration, opens the door for our sustainable products and solutions to the US market. Our long and well proven technology, using natural refrigerants, will enable US food retailers to move to technology that not only use natural refrigerants like propane and CO2, but also saves energy and increase the efficiency overall,” said Jørn Aalefjaer, Viessmann Business Development Director North America.

“Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions has demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing natural refrigerants internationally, and we are glad to see them introducing new technology options to support regulatory compliance in the US market,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC Executive Director. “We look forward to leveraging their global expertise to help accelerate progress in the US.”

NASRC’s membership network represents more than 38,000 US food retail locations and stakeholders from virtually every sector of the supermarket refrigeration industry. Members include service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

More information about Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions is available at https://cooling.viessmann.com/

Energy Recovery Joins NASRC, Introducing Energy-Saving Innovations for CO2 Systems

San Leandro, California — Energy Recovery, an energy recovery device manufacturer of technologies that solve complex challenges for industrial fluid-flow markets worldwide, has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) at the silver level.

NASRC is an action-oriented 501c3 nonprofit working in partnership with the supermarket industry to create a climate-friendly future for refrigeration by eliminating the barriers to natural refrigerant adoption in supermarkets. Natural refrigerants - including ammonia, hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide (CO2) - have zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP), making them a climate-friendly alternative to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.

HFCs are super-polluting greenhouse gases growing faster than any other greenhouse gas on the planet, and phasing them out has been identified as one of the most impactful climate solutions globally. As a result, supermarkets are facing increasing regulatory pressures and new corporate sustainability commitments to transition away from HFCs. Though natural refrigerants are the most climate-friendly solution, unique market challenges such as upfront cost premiums, service readiness, technology gaps, and uncertainty around energy performance have prevented their widescale adoption.

Energy performance is particularly important to achieving the lowest possible carbon footprint in supermarkets, as they represent the most energy-intensive type of commercial building, and their refrigeration systems are usually the largest source of energy use. CO2-based refrigeration systems have faced particular scrutiny for energy performance challenges in warm ambient climates. Though CO2 often performs well as a refrigerant in cool ambient climates, it has been shown to be less energy efficient in warm ambient climates without additional energy-saving design features.

Energy Recovery, which focuses on designing and manufacturing solutions that make industrial processes more efficient and sustainable, is working to address that challenge. The company’s newest pressure exchanger device, the PX G1300, allows CO2-based refrigeration systems to operate more efficiently in all ambient temperatures. It works by harvesting pressure energy to reduce compressor work and lessen power requirements, in turn increasing the efficiency of the system and contributing to a lower overall carbon footprint.

“Energy Recovery has been making industrial processes more sustainable and affordable for nearly three decades, and we’re excited that our innovative technology can do the same for the CO2 refrigeration industry,” said Kuo-Chiang (K-C) Chen, vice president of engineering and new product launch, Energy Recovery. “Our PX not only enables the use of natural refrigerants that have a significantly lower global warming potential, but also reduces electricity use of the entire system. We’ve found a partner with a shared goal in the NASRC, and we look forward to working together to future-proof CO2 refrigeration.”

The company has now joined NASRC’s network of over 140 stakeholders from across the refrigeration industry who are all contributing to NASRC’s work to advance natural refrigerants.

“We welcome Energy Recovery to our growing network and look forward to leveraging their expertise,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “Optimizing energy performance is critical to the future success of natural refrigerants and to achieving the maximum emissions reduction potential in the supermarket sector.”

NASRC’s membership network represents more than 38,000 US food retail locations and stakeholders from virtually every sector of the commercial refrigeration industry, including service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

Register for NASRC’s Sustainable Refrigeration Summit to access a free, on-demand presentation of Energy Recovery’s PX G1300 device. More information about Energy Recovery can be found here: https://energyrecovery.com/refrigeration/.

SEER2 Expands Support for NASRC, Driving Innovative Natural Refrigerant Solutions

Phoenix, Arizona — SEER2, a mechanical design, controls, energy, and implementation firm specializing in sustainable refrigeration and energy efficiency, has recently expanded their support for the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) to the silver level. The NASRC is an action-oriented 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to creating a climate-friendly future for refrigeration through natural refrigerants.

SEER2, which is part of Diehl Equipment Company, Inc., offers expertise in HVAC and refrigeration projects, energy and controls, and compliance and sustainability. Their experience includes managing projects that have helped supermarkets transition to the use of natural refrigerants.

SEER2’s experience is particularly relevant given the recent shift in the supermarket industry toward the use of low-global warming potential (GWP) and natural refrigerants. Supermarkets are pursuing these solutions as a part of their overall commitment to sustainability and in response to a growing body of government regulations concerning the use of high-GWP refrigerants.

At the federal level, the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act was signed into law in December of last year as part of the COVID 19 relief package. This legislation calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to issue regulations requiring the phase-down of the production and consumption of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years. Additionally, California has approved new regulations that will require supermarkets to use refrigerants that have a GWP below 150 in all new stores and set companywide GWP reduction targets for existing stores.

Natural refrigerants, including ammonia, CO2, and hydrocarbons, are climate-friendly and future-proof from a regulatory standpoint, but are associated with a unique set of market barriers that have prevented their scaled adoption. Existing facilities, which represent the greatest opportunity for emissions reduction, are particularly challenging because natural refrigerants are not a drop-in solution and require a financially and logistically challenging system replacement.

NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit working in partnership with the supermarket industry to drive actionable solutions to natural refrigerant barriers and make them a feasible business choice for supermarkets. The organization recently released a report demonstrating retailer demand for natural refrigerant technology solutions that would allow for the modular transition of existing facilities during the replacement of legacy equipment.

“Retailers need solutions to migrate their existing systems over to low-GWP and natural refrigerants over time,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director.

SEER2 is helping to shape unique solutions to these challenges and has coordinated a number of innovative partial conversions to natural refrigerants in existing facilities, including a recent conversion of a supermarket’s legacy low-temperature cooling system to a CO2 cascade system, for example. The project contributed to a significant overall reduction in the store’s GWP.

“We have been very impressed with how the NASRC has effectively used a moderate budget to drive change and adoption of natural and low-GWP refrigerants in the commercial refrigeration industry,” said Brad Person, president and owner of  SEER2. “With a group like NASRC that has significantly moved the needle forward for sustainable refrigerant solutions, we were glad to continue and increase our support.”

“SEER2 has been a great partner over the years,” said Wright. “Their increased support demonstrates their strong commitment to developing innovating solutions for supermarkets in the transition to climate-friendly refrigerants.”

In addition to SEER2, NASRC’s membership network represents more than 38,000 US food retail locations and stakeholders from virtually every sector of the commercial refrigeration industry, including service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

More information about SEER2 can be found here: www.seer2.net.

Remco Joins NASRC, Accelerating Natural Refrigerant Training for Technicians

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania — Remco Inc., a commercial HVAC and refrigeration installation and service provider, 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 supermarket refrigeration through natural refrigerants.

A growing number of supermarkets seeking to operate more sustainably and navigate new refrigerant regulations are beginning to look to climate-friendly natural refrigerants - including ammonia, CO2, and hydrocarbons - as an important part of the solution. However, due to a unique set of market barriers, natural refrigerant adoption in US supermarkets has not yet scaled.

Due to the low adoption rate, there have been limited natural refrigerant training opportunities for contractors, which in turn has created uncertainty for some supermarkets considering natural refrigerants. In addition, a shrinking technician workforce has exacerbated the service readiness challenges.

“For contractors who are already stretched thin, it can be difficult to justify investing in natural refrigerant training if their customers aren’t moving in that direction. This has led to gaps in training resources. As the demand for natural refrigerants increases, it’s important to fill those gaps and prevent training from becoming a bottleneck for scaled adoption,” said Morgan Smith, NASRC manager of programs & operations.

And that demand is already increasing. According to Remco, their technicians are encountering natural refrigerants with increasing frequency.

“We are seeing everything from booster and cascade CO2 systems to micro-distributed systems employing hydrocarbon refrigerants,” said Carl Hollomon, service manager of Remco’s Richmond branch. “So we understand the importance of educating our technicians to ensure they have the knowledge and tools available to them to safely troubleshoot and repair the multitude of systems they may encounter in the field. Remco has a dedicated staff of full-time trainers and a fully operational mock supermarket at our Mechanicsburg, PA training facility that allows us to give hands on training to all of our upcoming service and installation technicians. Even still the ongoing pandemic has posed a new set of challenges when it comes to training for alternative natural refrigerants, where we used to rely heavily on OEMs, our focus has shifted to adopting a curriculum that can be used in-house to educate our technicians, and that’s where we see a major benefit in partnering with NASRC.” 

Together with the industry, NASRC is working to remove the barriers preventing the widescale adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets, including service readiness, upfront costs, and data gaps. Remco’s participation in the NASRC membership network will bolster the organization’s efforts to address workforce development gaps that have slowed the adoption of natural refrigerants.

“Remco is committed to providing sustainable and environmentally conscious services by adopting new technology and practices across all aspects of our business,” said Bryan Purdy, Remco’s Pittsburgh branch manager. “Change is coming whether we like it or not, and it’s our obligation as a service provider to make sure our technicians are adequately trained and prepared for the future of refrigeration. The resources that become available to us by joining NASRC will allow us to stay ahead of the curve in making sure we can meet the everchanging demands of the refrigeration industry. We feel that joining NASRC allows us to be a part of a collaborative effort that will help us raise awareness and provide sustainable cost-effective solutions to our entire customer base with the common goal of a better tomorrow for all.”

“The service readiness challenges are multifaceted, and we need all-hands on deck to ensure that current and future generations of technicians are trained in the installation and maintenance of natural refrigerant equipment,” said Smith. “Remco has positioned themselves at the forefront of this effort, and we look forward to leveraging their expertise to drive progress for the industry.”

NASRC’s membership network represents more than 38,000 US food retail locations and stakeholders from virtually every sector of the commercial refrigeration industry, including service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

More information about Remco Inc. can be found here: https://www.remcopa.com.

Livingstone Consulting Joins NASRC, Helping US Grocers Meet Sustainability Goals

San Rafael, California — Livingstone Consulting, an engineering and sustainability consulting firm whose scope of expertise includes supermarket refrigeration, 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.

Livingstone Consulting works with clients across a range of industries on sustainability issues in the built environment, including building services engineering, sustainable design and solutions, onsite energy strategy, decarbonization, building optimization, and refrigerant management. Its experience includes the application of natural refrigerants and related disciplines like supply chain readiness and research and development of emerging technologies and applications.

“Our mission is to pioneer sustainable change in the built environment. What this really means is we are committed to working with partners to strategize and most importantly execute solutions that address environmental & economic challenges, namely climate change. We see natural refrigerants as a critical climate solution and a tremendous opportunity for the supermarket industry,” said Tristam Coffin, Livingstone president.   

Amid the broad trend toward corporate responsibility, pressure has been growing for businesses to address sustainability across their operations. Sustainability is an especially important issue for supermarket operators, who also face increasing legislative pressures to reduce the overall carbon footprint of their refrigeration systems.

“Grocers are caught between growing pressures to transition to climate-friendly refrigerants while improving the energy performance of their refrigeration systems,” said Morgan Smith, NASRC manager of programs & operations.

With zero or near-zero global warming potential (GWP) and a potential to improve energy performance, natural refrigerants are a future-proof solution for increasing refrigerant regulations and could play a key role in reaching corporate sustainability goals. Despite their benefits, barriers such as upfront cost premiums, a shortage of workforce training, and a lack of performance data have prevented the widescale adoption of natural refrigerants in the US.

NASRC, in partnership with its 130-plus stakeholders from across the supermarket refrigeration industry, is addressing those barriers head-on to make natural refrigerants a more feasible business choice for supermarkets.

“The NASRC is not only a leader in the supermarket industry, but they are also a vital environmental organization and unique resource in the sustainable refrigeration solutions and natural refrigerant space. We are proud to be aligned with their mission and join as a member,” said Coffin.  

“Livingstone brings in a unique expertise that will help grocers meet their sustainability goals and successfully navigate increasing refrigerant regulations,” said Smith. “We’re excited to welcome them into our network and look forward to working with them to drive our mission forward.”    

NASRC’s membership network represents more than 24,000 US supermarket locations and stakeholders from virtually every sector of the commercial refrigeration industry, including service contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, engineering firms, trade associations, distributors, and nonprofits.

More information about Livingstone Consulting can be found here: https://livingstone-consulting.com.