Refrigerant | YPGG - Why Green?

ATLANTA - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Hillphoenix in Conyers, Ga. earned recognition for achieving more GreenChill store certifications than their peers over the past year. Hillphoenix is a national provider of industrial refrigeration and commercial refrigeration solutions for retail and commercial businesses in multiple industry sectors.

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program, for Food Retailers, recognizes individual stores for using environmentally friendlier commercial refrigeration systems.

Nationally, EPA recognized 13 organizations in the supermarket industry for their achievements in protecting human health and the environment under its GreenChill Partnership Program. The GreenChill Partnership works with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer by supporting a transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, lowering charge sizes and eliminating leaks, and adopting green refrigeration technologies and best environmental practices.

“We applaud all the supermarket chains that have demonstrated tremendous environmental leadership through the prevention of refrigerant releases and the use of advanced refrigeration technologies,” said EPA Office of Air and Radiation Assistant Administrator Bill Wehrum. “It’s good for the environment, and it’s just good business.”

Over the past decade, EPA’s GreenChill Partnership has grown from 4,500 stores to over 11,000 stores nationwide, representing about 29 percent of the U.S. supermarket industry. If supermarkets nationwide reduced the amount of refrigerant they leak to the current average leak rate for GreenChill partner companies, they could avoid $212 million each year in the cost of refrigerant that needs to be replaced.

EPA recognized GreenChill partners in the following categories:

Best Corporate Emissions Rate
Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.) earned the Program’s most prestigious recognition for achieving the lowest refrigerant emissions rate among retail supermarket chains. City Market Onion River Co-op (Burlington, Vt.) received this recognition for the category of small-independent grocers.

Most Improved Emissions Rate
Hanover Co-op Food Stores (Hanover, N.H.) was honored with the “Most Improved Emissions Rate” recognition for achieving the Program’s largest refrigerant leak rate reduction compared to 2011, the year it joined GreenChill. Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.) lowered its emissions rate more than any other partner compared to the previous year.

Goal Achievement
GreenChill’s four “Superior Goal Achievement” winners voluntarily set and achieved their challenging corporate goal for reducing refrigerant emissions. Winners include Coborn’s Inc. (St. Cloud, Minn.), Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.), Hy-Vee (West Des Moines, Iowa), and Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.). Hy-Vee (West Des Moines, Iowa), was the sole partner to earn “Exceptional Goal Achievement” for meeting an even more stringent “stretch” refrigerant emissions reduction goal.

Distinguished Partner
Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas) was honored with the “Distinguished Partner” recognition for leadership through active participation and information sharing in this year’s GreenChill Program events.

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program recognized individual stores for meeting strict performance criteria that demonstrate their refrigeration systems have minimal impacts on the ozone layer.

GreenChill presented the following store certification recognitions:

Best of the Best
Lidl US (Arlington, Va.) was honored as “Best of the Best” for its innovative approach to refrigeration in its GreenChill certified store in Kinston, N.C. The Lidl USA store only uses stand-alone refrigerated cases with a very small amount of an environmentally-friendly refrigerant.

Store Certification Excellence
Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) and Sprouts Farmers Market (Phoenix, Ariz.) earned recognition for achieving more GreenChill store certifications than their peers over the past year; this is each company’s seventh and sixth consecutive time earning this recognition, respectively.

Store Re-Certification
Five stores were recognized for achieving GreenChill certification for five consecutive years. Winners include Hannaford in Turner, Maine, Sprouts Farmers Market in Fresno, Calif., Stater Bros. Market in Redlands, Calif., Weis Markets in Hillsborough, N.J., and Whole Foods Market in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Hannaford and Whole Foods stores were two of the first in the U.S. to adopt an environmentally-friendlier advanced refrigeration system that uses carbon dioxide as its only refrigerant.

More about the GreenChill Partnership and winner’s achievements: https://www.epa.gov/greenchill

WASHINGTON - Over the course of one week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed three separate rules — the Refrigerant Management Rule Amendments, Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program Technical Amendments, and Oil & Gas Targeted Improvements — totaling more than $115 million in regulatory cost savings. In addition, EPA has officially converted four regional haze Federal Implementation Plans (FIP) into State Implementation Plans (SIPs).

“These rules would provide greater certainty to the regulated community in areas where previous EPA actions exceeded its legal authority or caused confusion and undue burdens,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “A lack of certainty from EPA hinders environmental protections and causes paralysis in the marketplace, and we are committed to fixing that.

Refrigerant Management Rule Amendments

Today, EPA proposed the Refrigerant Management proposed rule, which would generate approximately $40 million in regulatory savings annually. The proposed rule amendments revisit the Agency’s approach to regulating appliances containing substitute refrigerants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), based on PEA's proposed interpretation that the Agency exceeded its statutory authority in extending refrigerant management requirements to appliances containing non-ozone depleting substitutes. This proposed rulemaking in no way affects the current requirements for ozone-depleting refrigerants.

EPA will take comment on the proposed rule for 45 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register and will hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C. Details on the public hearing will be available shortly.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/section608/revised-section-608-refrigerant-management-regulations

Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Program

The Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Program rule proposed today would correct minor technical errors in the GHG emissions regulations finalized in the 2012 rulemaking establishing standards for model years 2017-2025 light-duty vehicles. These amendments would clarify the calculation methodology in the regulations and allow the program to be implemented as originally intended. This proposal is separate from the recently announced joint EPA—National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed SAFE Vehicles Rule to address some of these underlying standards. Once this action is published in the Federal Register, there will be a 30-day comment period.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/proposed-rule-technical-amendments-light-duty-vehicle

State Implementation Plans

EPA has converted regional haze FIPs in Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia into SIPs. In 2012, EPA issued a FIP covering many states, including these. This well-coordinated, cooperative approach, allows Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia to meet federal requirements while ensuring the protection of human health and the environment.

“I am pleased that the EPA is approving West Virginia’s plan,” said West Virginia Governor Jim Justice. “Protecting visibility in areas like Dolly Sods and Otter Creek is important for tourism and economic development. West Virginia appreciates the responsiveness of the new leadership at EPA and in this case, it means West Virginia has the freedom to develop its own plan and not have a one size fits all plan forced on us.”

During the Obama Administration, more than 50 Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) were imposed on states, including over a dozen under the Regional Haze program. Under the Trump Administration, EPA has turned approximately one FIP into a SIP every month.

Once the SIPs are published in the Federal Register, they will be available here:

Oil & Gas Targeted Improvements

The Oil & Gas Technical Package proposed targeted improvements to the 2016 New Source Performance Standards for the oil and gas industry that streamline implementation, reduce duplicative EPA and state requirements, and significantly decrease unnecessary burdens on domestic energy producers. This oil and gas targeted improvements package is expected to save up to approximately $484 million in regulatory costs from 2019–2025 or $75 million annually.

The proposed improvements include: aligning requirements between EPA's rule and existing state programs; modifying the frequency for monitoring leaks (also known as “fugitive emissions”) at well sites and compressor stations; and making it easier for owners and operators to use emerging measurement technologies in their leaks monitoring surveys.

The Agency continues to consider other policy issues in the 2016 rule, including the regulation of GHGs in the oil and gas sector, and will be addressed in a separate proposal at a later date.

EPA will take comment on the proposed rule for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register and will hold a public hearing in Denver, Colo. Details on the public hearing will be available shortly.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-oil-and-gas-targeted-improvements-package-advance-president-trumps-energy

Tag: Refrigerant

EPA Recognizes Hillphoenix in Conyers, Ga. for Smart Refrigerant Management

OAR Wrap Up: Proposed Rules Saving More Than $115 Million Annually in Regulatory Costs

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