In October, Conyers, Ga.-based Dover Food Retail’s Hillphoenix brand received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) GreenChill 2022-2023 Store Certification Excellence Award. This is the 12th consecutive year the brand has earned this recognition.
The EPA’s GreenChill program exists to unite supermarket retailers and manufacturers as they work toward reducing refrigerant emissions and decreasing their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.
Those efforts include the following:
- Transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants
- Reduce the amount of refrigerant used
- Eliminate refrigerant leaks
- Implement environmental best practices
- Adopt green refrigeration technologies
“Hillphoenix, a founding GreenChill partner, continues to set an example for other systems manufacturing partners,” said Cindy Newberg, director of the EPA’s stratospheric protection division. “We congratulate Hillphoenix on their impressive 12th consecutive year of installing the most refrigeration systems in GreenChill certified stores.”
Dover said more than 80% of the 13,515 GreenChill-certified retail stores in the United Stats have Hillphoenix refrigeration systems installed.
“At Hillphoenix, we are guided by a purpose to invest in the future by developing sustainable technologies and refrigeration solutions,” said Scott Martin, Hillphoenix senior director of industry relations and compliance. “We are proud to be a founding member of the EPA’s GreenChill program and honored to be recognized for our continuous efforts in developing future-focused sustainable products in partnership with customers who share our goal of lowering global warming potential refrigerant solutions.”
Dover shared the following timeline of Hillphoenix’s sustainability advancements:
Mid-1990s — Hillphoenix introduced 2Cool systems, one of the first cooling technologies designed to reduce global warming emissions.
Early 2000s — Hillphoenix rebranded one of its growing portfolios to Second Nature and installed its first Second Nature low-temperature CO2 secondary system and CO2 Cascade system.
2012 — Hillphoenix installed the first North American CO2 Transcritical Booster System, furthering the company’s capabilities in providing both low- and medium-temperature refrigeration to display cases and walk-ins without relying on hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.
Present — Hillphoenix has shipped thousands of Second Nature systems using low global warming potential and natural refrigerant solutions.
Another member of the GreenChill program is Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer Meijer, which has more than 500 stores across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin.
The privately-owned and family-operated company was recognized by the EPA for having the lowest corporate-wide refrigerant emissions rate out of all the US GreenChill partners throughout the last year. This is Meijer’s third consecutive year achieving the honor.
Since Meijer joined the GreenChill program in 2012, the company said it has focused on reducing its refrigerant leak, which is now significantly lower than the industry average of 25%.
“Lessening our impact on the environment through a continued commitment to reduce carbon emissions is important to us and our customers,” said Vik Srinivasan, chief administrative officer for Meijer. “We’ve made significant progress toward our goal of reducing our absolute carbon emissions 50% by 2025, thanks in part to our teams’ continued focus on refrigeration management through our partnership with GreenChill.”
This article is an excerpt from the November 2023 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Perimeter Design feature and more in the digital edition here.
