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NASRC's Incentive Program Drives $880,000 for Climate-Friendly Grocery Stores
Mill Valley, California - 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, recently announced that they have secured a total of $880,000 in funding support for natural refrigerant grocery projects through their Aggregated Incentives Program (AIP) Pilot.
“We launched the AIP program to support grocers facing increasing regulatory pressure to transition away from HFC refrigerants,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC Executive Director. “Incentives have the power to offset cost premiums and make natural refrigerants a feasible business choice for grocers.”
Launched in 2020, NASRC’s AIP Pilot was a first-of-its-kind, no cost platform through which NASRC coordinated incentive funding for natural refrigerant projects in California grocery stores. The pilot was designed to bolster the California Air Resources Board (CARB) F-gas Reduction Incentive Program (FRIP), which was established to support the transition to climate-friendly refrigerants resulting from CARB’s HFC reduction measures that take effect on Jan 1, 2022.
“NASRC’s assistance was critical in obtaining the FRIP funding,” said Jay Schick, Refrigeration and HVAC Buyer at Costco, a FRIP awardee and AIP Pilot participant. “We hope to see the program grow in the future as this is key to accelerating our transition from HFC refrigerants.”
FRIP is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. FRIP was established to address the fact that upfront costs remain a significant hurdle for grocers to transition to low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants.
Recently, CARB awarded FRIP grants to 15 grocery projects across California, 12 of which were funded through the NASRC AIP Pilot and represented $880,000 of the total $1 million awarded. The projects funded through the AIP Pilot will use climate-friendly natural refrigerants with near-zero GWP, such as CO2 and propane.
The grants will support innovative projects, including partial transitions to natural refrigerants in four existing Whole Foods Market facilities. Because natural refrigerants are not a “drop-in” solution, they require a full system replacement rather than a simple gas retrofit, representing a much greater challenge for grocers. “There’s no straightforward solution for replacing HFC equipment,” said Mike Ellinger, Principal Program Manager of Engineering, Compliance & Sustainability at Whole Foods Market. “The FRIP funding will allow us to test several innovative approaches and the results will inform our strategy for existing stores in the future.”
ALDI, another national chain grocer, received awards for seven projects through the AIP Pilot, four of which are located in disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately impacted by the changing climate. "The funding ALDI receives through FRIP supports our continued dedication to natural refrigerant technology,” said Dan Gavin, ALDI Vice President of National Real Estate. “At ALDI, we continue to explore new ways to lower our carbon footprint, and we are particularly excited about the energy data we will receive from this outstanding program."
In addition to the grants, FRIP awardees will participate in data sharing and service workforce development activities, further addressing barriers that are slowing the adoption of natural refrigerants in the US. NASRC is supporting the implementation of these activities as part of their AIP Pilot.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the FRIP funding was not renewed in the California 2021 fiscal year budget. NASRC is advocating for the program to receive additional funding in the future to support full or partial system replacements in existing stores. There will be opportunities to submit comments in support of renewed FIRP funding later this year, but in the meantime NASRC is thinking bigger.
“Our goal with the pilot was always to expand beyond California,” said Wright. “Given the upcoming federal HFC phasedown, there is a need for national funding support to aid the transition. That’s where we’re looking next.”
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.
NASRC Releases 2020 Annual Report
NASRC 2020 Annual Report
Rising To the Challenge Together
2020 was a year filled with new and unfamiliar challenges, but together with our members and partners, we rose to the occasion and ultimately made 2020 our most impactful year yet!
We're proud to share NASRC's 2020 Annual Report, which summarizes the progress we made towards accomplishing our mission to make natural refrigerants a feasible business choice for supermarkets, including:
Developing and coordinating funding support to offset cost premiums
Accelerating training for contractors and technicians
Facilitating new pilot projects and field demonstrations
Creating new resources and educational opportunities
Thank you to our members for making all of our work possible!
Not a member yet? Get involved to be a part of the action.
Nonprofit Report Demonstrates Food Retailer Demand for Natural Refrigerant Condensing Units
Survey Highlights Opportunity to Transition Existing Facilities to Climate-Friendly Refrigerants
Mill Valley, California — The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working in partnership with the supermarket industry to advance the use of climate-friendly natural refrigerants, has released a report summarizing US food retailer preferences for natural refrigerant-based condensing unit technologies.
“The most significant takeaway from the report is that it demonstrates a strong demand for natural refrigerant-based condensing unit technologies in the US, with 100 percent of participating retailers indicating interest,” comments Danielle Wright, executive director of North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council.
NASRC conducted a survey of 13 major food retailers representing more than 17,000 US locations to characterize retailer demand for natural refrigerant-based condensing units. The report summarizes retailer preferences for CO2-and-propane-based condensing unit product applications, load type and corresponding capacity ranges (MBTUs), condensing medium, as well as other considerations and requirements.
Another key finding is the potential for existing stores, with almost 80% of retailers surveyed were interested in condensing unit applications for existing stores. The majority indicated a preference for CO2-based condensing units to serve medium temperature refrigerated display cases.
“The real challenge is how to accelerate emissions reduction in the 38,000 stores that exist today,” said Danielle Wright, NASRC executive director. “We need solutions that can be phased in as part of the normal equipment replacement schedule and serve the refrigeration capacity expansion that is happening across the food retail sector today due to the rise in online shopping.”
Food retailers are facing increasing regulatory pressures at the international, federal, and state levels to transition to climate-friendly natural refrigerants, including ammonia, CO2, and propane. Today, the vast majority of stores are using hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which are considered super greenhouse gases and have thousands of times more global warming potential (GWP) than natural refrigerants. Transitioning away from harmful HFCs to natural refrigerants is not so simple as it requires replacing the entire refrigeration system, which is unfeasible from a cost and, many times, technical perspective. Retailers need cost-effective, modular technology options that allow them to migrate their refrigeration loads and displace the existing system over time.
Natural refrigerant-based condensing units, using Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Propane, are an ideal option due to their ability to serve unique load types and reduce overall GWP of the system. Despite increasing interest from food retailers, very few product options are available in the US market compared to Europe and Asia.
“Ultimately, our goal is to bring more natural refrigerant product solutions to the US market,” said Wright. “This report was the first step in bridging the information gap by leveraging our strong network of stakeholders.”
About North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council
The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants in supermarkets. The organization works with stakeholders from across the supermarket refrigeration industry, including over 28,000 food retail locations in the US, to eliminate the barriers preventing the adoption of natural refrigerants. For additional information, please visit www.nasrc.org.
First-of-its-kind Study Compares Costs of Natural & Low-GWP Refrigerant Systems
As food retailers in the US face growing refrigerant regulations, the need for tools and resources that provide clarity on the cost of natural and low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant technologies is becoming increasingly apparent. A new study comparing the upfront and ongoing costs of various natural and low-GWP refrigerant systems has provided a first-of-its-kind resource that could help build a pathway towards that clarity for retailers.
Authored by DC Engineering - an engineering design firm based in Meridian, Idaho – the study was commissioned by a national chain grocer and aimed to equip the grocer to make informed system selection decisions. The grocer chose to remain anonymous but agreed to make the study results public.
“This study is a great example of the kind of transparent and comprehensive cost comparison food retailers are looking for,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “As regulatory pressures increase, retailers need more tools like this to effectively compare their options.”
“With the ever-changing tapestry of refrigerant compliance issues, we have found end-users need clear, fact-based guidance on the most suitable system for their long-term operational success,” said Glenn Barrett, engineering manager at DC Engineering. “Both the first cost and lifecycle costs of different system designs are heavily impacted by the system options and features utilized. Providing a baseline of the client’s key parameters, and then adhering to those parameters, is imperative to achieving a meaningful comparison.”
The study compared both the upfront costs of installation and ongoing cost of energy for four different refrigeration system designs serving a 40,000 square foot market with a 900 MBH load. The baseline design was a 3-rack system using R-448A, which was compared to three other system designs:
A CO2 transcritical system utilizing a single rack and an adiabatic gas cooler
A micro-distributed system using R-448A and utilizing an adiabatic fluid cooler and a hydronic loop for heat rejection
A micro-macro-distributed system using R-290 for standardized cases and CO2 for specialty cases and utilizing an adiabatic fluid cooler and a hydronic loop for heat rejection
To obtain competitive installation pricing, the four system designs were bid across five regions using multiple contractors and OEMs. As a result, over 50 competitive bids were reviewed to analyze first costs. The bids were averaged to compare the variation of the case, equipment, and installation costs across each of the four system designs. Overall, the CO2 transcritical design resulted in the lowest first cost, even when compared to the baseline HFC system.
“It’s important to remember that this study reflects one retailer’s experience and is not necessarily representative of other retailers,” said Wright. “We’ve heard from a number of our retailer members that they are still experiencing significant cost premiums for CO2 transcritical systems.”
Energy performance was also modeled for each of the four system designs using a combination of Pack Calculation Pro, Excel, and other tools. Weather data was incorporated from each of the five regions and all system loads were kept constant for the purpose of comparison. The results reflected energy penalties in every region for all alternative system types, ranging from 9% to 122% above the HFC baseline system.
“It was very interesting to see how energy use differed between the various real world, commercially available, designs,” said Barrett. “It was particularly interesting – and encouraging – to see how the thermodynamic efficiency advantages of natural refrigerant solutions played out when compared to a very efficient HFC, multiple suction group, rack design using industry best practices. The study substantiated our view that natural refrigerant designs are both viable and varied to meet most any facility conditions but can indeed be improved to maximize energy efficiency.”
This study is an important first step towards providing retailers the tools they need to effectively compare their options. Looking ahead, NASRC plans to build on this study to incorporate additional system types and baseline assumptions, as well as energy performance data from the field.
“Our hope is that this study will serve as an important blueprint that can be expanded to include other system designs and field data,” said Wright. “NASRC’s goal is to help coordinate that expansion to drive more clarity for retailers.”
Click here to read the full report.