the effectiveness of R290 in their store environments,” said LSI Industries President and CEO James Clark. Clark noted that the system also uses less energy. “The Environmental Protection Agency approved R290 as an ‘acceptable substitute’ for retail food refrigeration under the Significant New Alternative Policy (SNAP) program,” the company said. “JSI was well positioned to implement this new method in its store fixtures and to provide customers with an exciting, innovative, and environmentally sound solution to improve the environment.” And a new refrigeration system that reduces the use of greenhouse gas producing hydrofluorocarbons has also been rolled out at Hunter’s Shop ‘n Save in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. James LaBrecque, inventor of the FlexCube refrigeration system, has worked in the grocery industry for most of his life and began developing the FlexCube about 12 years ago. “The years of watching the industry and the experience I gained from engineering and installation [of refrigeration systems] is why I worked to develop this model,” LaBrecque told Supermarket News. Unlike other refrigeration systems that can take up an entire room in the back of a grocery store, the FlexCube module is a 2-foot cube that uses less than 25 pounds of refrigerant. FlexCube system uses Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), an organic compound that is more sustainable than the Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are commonly used in refrigeration systems that leak massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “One pound of HFC leaking is equal to 4,000 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, and the government has considered them to be super polluters,” LaBrecque said. He said the three FlexCubes can handle the refrigeration needs for a small store of 7,000 to 8,000 square feet, while a dozen FlexCubes can cover a 50,000-square-foot store. He said the reduction in size of the refrigeration system will be a “paradigm shift” in the industry. “These systems must be housed in large mechanical rooms and circulate a huge refrigerant charge using miles of piping and multi-time rooftop condensers. The FlexCube system
others in the industry. To give a sense of scale, Gristedes’ emissions had a global warming effect equal to driving a car 140 million miles,” Williams said in a press release. “As a result of our lawsuit, Gristedes is now required to reduce its emissions by over 70% from their 2020 levels to offset at least some of the damage it has caused, and it will face significant additional penalties under the Consent Decree if it fails to do so.” The chain owns a group of about 20 supermarkets in New York City. The U.S. Attorney’s office noted that between 2019 and 2021, the chain emitted more than 40,000 pounds of refrigerants into the atmosphere. The consent decree “requires Gristedes to undertake repairs of its commercial refrigeration equipment with an estimated cost of $13.5 million to adopt a comprehensive refrigerant compliance management plan to convert three stores to utilize advanced refrigerants with low global warming potential, and to lower its corporate leak-rate below 16%.” Failure to comply with the consent decree will result in more penalties, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
eliminates all of that,” the company noted in a promotional video. PAYING THE CONSEQUENCE New York-based grocery chain Gristedes Supermarkets has signed a consent decree agreeing to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and spend roughly $13.5 million to upgrade its refrigeration equipment for its failure to limit greenhouse gas emissions from its refrigerators. Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release that the U.S. filed a lawsuit against the grocer alleging violations of the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Recycling and Emissions Reduction Rule. Gristedes failed to comply with regulations limiting refrigerant emissions, Williams said. A Gristedes spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. “Between 2019 and 2021, Gristedes systematically violated EPA refrigerant regulations, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions at a rate far higher than
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SUSTAINABILITY OUTLOOK 2025
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK
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