Supermarket retailer Giant Eagle Inc received three awards from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership at the Food Marketing Institute’s Sustainability Summit held recently in San Francisco CA.
Giant Eagle received GreenChill’s 2008 Best Partner Emissions Rate Award for achieving the lowest refrigerant leak rate of the GreenChill partners, the 2008 Exceptional Goal Achievement Award for exceeding GreenChill standards in reductions of refrigerant emissions, and the 2008 Superior Goal Achievement Award for achieving the target rate for overall emissions.
The GreenChill partnership is an EPA program in which supermarkets, refrigeration equipment manufacturers, and other stakeholders work together to reduce refrigerant leaks and potentially damaging emissions. Giant Eagle became a founding member GreenChill partner in 2007.
Raley’s Family of Fine Stores joined the GreenChill partnership in January 2009 and voluntarily committed to reducing refrigerant emissions. Eight months later, Raley’s received a GreenChill New Partner Award at the Sustainability Summit for its commitment to decreasing refrigerant emissions.
According to the EPA, GreenChill partners in the food retail business have refrigerant emissions rates nearly 50% lower than the EPA-estimated industry average. These partners are responsible for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerants totaling 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—equivalent to the annual emissions of 500,000 cars. In addition, the EPA estimates that GreenChill’s founding partners saved almost $13 million in operating costs by reducing refrigerant emissions.
More information about the GreenChill partnership is available at www.epa.gov/greenchill.
