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U.S. EPA Recognizes Raley’s Supermarket Efforts to Keep Planet Cool

Release Date: 11/04/2009
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, 415/947-4307, Mogharabi.Nahal@epa.gov

For Immediate Release: November 4, 2009
Third Raley’s Store on West Coast to receive GreenChill gold-level certification

San Francisco—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded Raley’s Supermarket with a GreenChill gold-level award for innovative green refrigeration technology in its newest supermarket, which opened today in Tracy, Calif.

The GreenChill Partnership works with supermarket industries through a cooperative alliance to reduce their emissions of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases.

This Raley’s store shows that we can use advanced technologies to reduce emissions that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to climate change,” said Deborah Jordan, director of the Air Division in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest office. “The public values sustainable businesses such as our GreenChill partners that are helping protect our health and the environment.”

Demonstrating the West Sacramento-based grocer’s strides in new ozone-safe refrigeration technologies, Raley’s leads the industry in certified stores, with five sites in California earning either gold or silver certification. Gold-level certified stores are located in Tracy, Petaluma and San Jose, and silver-level certified stores are located in San Pablo and Mountain View.

Raley’s new refrigeration system uses a significantly smaller charge of refrigerant gases than traditional systems. These systems significantly reduce refrigerant emissions.

The EPA estimates that if all U.S. supermarkets reduced emissions to the current GreenChill average, the nation could save the equivalent of 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 240 ozone-depleting potential tons each year—equal to the annual emissions from more than four million cars. The cost savings would be approximately $108 million in refrigerant expenses annually.

GreenChill partners pledge to go above and beyond regulatory requirements by measuring and tracking refrigerant emissions that affect climate change and the Earth’s ozone layer, and then setting reduction targets for these emissions. Partners also agree to use only ozone-friendly alternatives in all new and remodeled stores, which emit about 50 percent fewer emissions than the industry average.

Currently, GreenChill has a total of 46 partners, including 37 food retail partners with more than 6,500 stores in 47 states.

For more information on the GreenChill Partnership, please visit the EPA’s Web site at https://www.epa.gov/greenchill