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!

---

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.

---

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.

Register Now! NASRC Sustainable Refrigeration Summit

Registration is now open for our Sustainable Refrigeration Summit! This FREE virtual summit will bring together commercial refrigeration, energy, environmental, and policy stakeholders to advance solutions for a zero-emissions future for supermarket refrigeration.

Attendees will gain knowledge on the latest regulatory and industry trends and hear directly from the food retailers, leading industry experts, and policymakers that are shaping the future of sustainable refrigeration.

---

Hosted over a two-week period, the summit will feature on-demand presentations and 1-2 live sessions each day, including:

• LIVE panel discussions with food retailers and other industry experts on zero emission strategies, technology solutions, opportunities, and challenges

• LIVE sessions covering the regulatory landscape, funding for natural refrigerants, and the latest trends and research

• LIVE interactive workshops with state policymakers to facilitate engagement in refrigerant rulemaking and state program development processes

• ON-DEMAND technology sessions showcasing the latest innovations in natural refrigerants

Check out our preliminary program and stay tuned for more session details!.

---

#SustainableRefSummit

---

Thank you to our sponsors!

Premium Sponsors

Basic Sponsors

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!

---

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.

---

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.

NASRC New York Workshop Engages Key Stakeholders Early in Regulatory Process

Albany, New York – The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently co-hosted a workshop, which aimed to help New York supermarkets prepare for future refrigerant regulations. The workshop provided a platform for key stakeholders – including supermarket retailers, service contractors, equipment manufacturers & suppliers, government agencies, utilities, engineering & design firms, consultants, and NGOs – to discuss challenges and solutions to advancing climate-friendly refrigerant technologies in New York State.

New York is one of a growing number of states that have announced plans to phase out Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) commonly used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, as part of the US Climate Alliance commitment to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. States have taken an interest in HFC regulations due to the high global warming potential (GWP) of these gases and the significant emissions reduction opportunity presented by phasing them out. But the transition to low-GWP refrigerants is anything but easy for a supermarket due to a unique set of market barriers.

“Our intention with this workshop was not only to educate stakeholders about future regulations and technology solutions, but also to create an opportunity to openly discuss challenges and identify actionable solutions that will allow all stakeholders to accomplish their goals,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of the NASRC.

And New York’s climate goals are considered especially ambitious, with their Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act calling for carbon-free electricity by 2040 and an 85% reduction of economy-wide emissions by 2050 on the way to reaching net zero emissions.

The DEC opened the workshop with an overview of their refrigerant regulation plans in the context of their overall GHG reduction goals. Initially, the state will target phasing out high-GWP HFCs, in accordance with the vacated Federal EPA SNAP rules 20 and 21. This first phase is expected to stem the increase in emission that are expected in the coming decades, but the state will need to go further to achieve its climate targets.

The workshop also featured educational presentations from industry experts on technology options that will meet current and future regulatory requirements. DC Engineering shared an overview of various system architectures and technologies using natural refrigerants such as carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia, and hydrocarbon solutions. Representatives from Danfoss, Dorin, e2s, and Hussmann highlighted specific low-GWP refrigerant technologies, case studies, and opportunities for energy efficiency.    

Following the presentations, the NASRC facilitated a discussion of challenges and solutions to natural refrigerant adoption in both new and existing facilities in New York State.

“Having a diversity of key stakeholders together in one room gave us a unique opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives around challenges and potential solutions,” said Wright.

Cost was identified as the leading challenge in both new and existing facilities, including upfront equipment and labor costs and ongoing maintenance costs. The need for technician training and constraints with state and local building codes followed cost as key challenges associated with natural refrigerant adoption in new facilities. In existing facilities, attendees identified technology gaps and the need for need for regulatory clarity, certainty, and consistency as leading challenges.

The workshop closed with a discussion around potential solutions to each of the identified challenges. Together, the NASRC and the DEC intend to follow-up on these solutions to address each challenge within the context of New York State.

“NASRC is uniquely positioned to drive these solutions forward,” said Wright. “Addressing these challenges is not only a critical step to help supermarkets successfully navigate future HFC regulations, but it also opens up new opportunities for New York State and other stakeholders to effectively accomplish their climate goals.”

The workshop was made possible thanks to generous support from Coolsys, Danfoss, and Dorin. NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to removing the barriers to adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarket applications. To learn more or get involved in the solutions, visit www.nasrc.org.

NASRC California Workshop Drives Incentives for Low-GWP and Energy Efficient Technologies

San Francisco, California – On July 18th, the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) organized a workshop aimed at aligning stakeholder goals and optimizing energy efficiency opportunities with low-GWP refrigerants. The workshop featured an update on refrigerant regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as an overview of low-GWP technologies that will help supermarkets comply with the new regulations. The intention of the workshop was to highlight the goals and challenges of key stakeholders and identify potential “win-win-win” solutions.

“We often hear that there is a perceived trade-off between GWP reduction and energy efficiency. But we see an opportunity to optimize energy savings with natural refrigerants, which represents a win for CARB, supermarkets, and California utilities. That was our primary goal with this workshop.”

- Danielle Wright, Executive Director, NASRC

The workshop was set in the context of California’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to reduce HFC emissions to 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. To achieve these goals, CARB has proposed new regulations that would prohibit the use of refrigerants with a global warming potential (GWP) above 150 in new construction and ban the sale of virgin refrigerants with a GWP above 1,500 starting in 2022.

Though regulatory compliance is an important objective for supermarkets, they have a number of other goals to consider, such as keeping their products cold and their costs down. The pending regulations present a challenge for California supermarkets because many low-GWP technologies still represent a considerable cost premium. To really accelerate the adoption of refrigerant technologies below 150 GWP, supermarkets are going to need some financial support to offset cost premiums. 

The workshop featured several potential solutions to help overcome existing cost hurdles, starting with a state incentive program. This year, the California State Legislature allocated $1 million to the state’s low-GWP incentive program, which was established in 2018 under the California Cooling Act. This incentive program is intended to promote adoption of new low-GWP refrigerant technologies throughout California. CARB announced that they are currently working to design the program and are looking for input from stakeholders.

In addition to state-level incentives, the workshop highlighted utility funding opportunities for projects that contribute to their energy efficiency targets. Workshop speakers discussed existing utility incentive opportunities that can apply to low-GWP refrigerant technologies, such as Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) custom incentive program and commercial whole buildings program. California supermarkets can participate in these programs to receive incentives for the energy and demand savings associated with projects using low-GWP refrigerant technologies. Customers of any investor-owned utility (IOU) can also take advantage of on-bill financing programs, which offer zero percent interest loans that are repaid through the customer’s utility bill.

A new financing mechanism that will leverage carbon offset credits for greenhouse gas emissions reductions from natural refrigerant projects was also discussed. In this scenario, the carbon offset credits would be purchased from a supermarket, reducing the upfront cost of a natural refrigerant project. The NASRC and Natural Capital Partners are partnering to pilot this carbon financing model with the hopes of scaling into a larger program. This funding source could then be coupled with state or utility incentives to make a low-GWP refrigerant project financially feasible.  

“Any one of these financial options may not be enough to allow a supermarket to move forward with a natural refrigerant system,” said Wright. “But combining a number of financial mechanisms may be the solution that allows supermarkets to adopt natural refrigerant systems that will not be subject to future regulations.”

NASRC intends to help drive each proposed solution forward with the goal of combining funding opportunities to minimize cost barriers and contribute to the goals of California supermarkets, California utilities, and CARB.

The worship was co-hosted by PG&E and took place at their Pacific Energy Center (PEC) facility in San Francisco. Sponsored by Climate Pros, Hillphoenix, AHT Cooling Systems, and Bitzer US, the workshop was attended by over 100 California stakeholders, including supermarket retailers, service contractors, equipment manufacturers & suppliers, government agencies, utilities, engineering & design firms, consultants, and NGOs.

Check out more upcoming NASRC events here.