EPA Supports New Refrigeration System Being Tested by Food Lion

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hopes that its new GreenChill Partnership with the supermarket industry will “achieve broad adoption of advanced refrigeration systems that are ozone-friendly and significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Jeff Cohen, manager of the EPA‘s Alternatives and Emissions Reductions program. Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., which last month became one of the first retailers to join the GreenChill Partnership, is testing one such advanced system in a store in Montpelier, Va. Food Lion‘s system, which uses carbon dioxide as a “secondary loop” coolant, is a “technology we want to promote [because] it will have much smaller refrigerant emissions,” he told SN. However, the EPA plans to assess the technology with the help of industry and government experts. “If the technology is a winner, that‘s the best way to propel it in the market,” Cohen said. -- Michael Garry