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Organic Valley Family of Farms, America’s leading organic farmers cooperative and one of the biggest organic brands, has joined the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Program. With some of its refrigeration systems already fitted with ammonia, this move will further promote the use of the natural refrigerant across the country.

The initiative is part of Organic Valley’s attempt to reduce its Green House Gas (GHG) and Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) emissions. Organic Valley will actively promote the programme’s benefits and will upgrade its own refrigeration systems at its headquarters. The cooperative will adopt measurement tools to reduce its carbon and ODS footprint in the scheme.

13 million metric tons of CO₂ saved

"If every supermarket in the nation joined GreenChill and reduced their emissions to the current GreenChill average, the industry could prevent the release of 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and 157 ozone-depleting potential tons annually. That's a tremendous step in fostering a more sustainable supply chain for the entire food distribution industry," explained Cecil Wright, vice president of sustainability at Organic Valley.

As part of the programme, the cooperative is to create a baseline measurement of its refrigerant emissions and develop a Refrigerant Management Plan so as to yearly reduce its environmental negative impacts. Existing GreenChill partners emit far below their competitors as reporting shows that the original six supermarkets who adopted the scheme saved $13 million in operating costs in 2007 alone.

Ammonia in Organic Valley

The cooperative has already opted for non-ozone depleting and zero GWP refrigerant ammonia in both its refrigerant systems for Chaseburg creamery and Cashton distribution center in Wisconsin. Organic Valley stressed the overall superior performances of ammonia as a key element to their choice.

First, ammonia’s recognised thermodynamic characteristics make it more energy efficient than traditional chemicals. This leads to lesser energy for the system to run. As such, users will enjoy considerable economies of scale for industrial refrigeration applications. The green-thinking co-op also stressed the environmental superiority of ammonia over chemical refrigerants as another key factor to their decision.

Background

Founded in 1988, Organic Valley now represents 1,332 farmers in 32 states and one Canadian province, and achieved $527 million in 2008 sales. Organic Valley produces a variety of organic foods, including organic milk, soy, cheese, butter, spreads, creams, eggs, produce and juice, which are sold in supermarkets, natural foods stores and food cooperatives nationwide.

In 2007, the U.S. EPA initiated the GreenChill program to reduce ozone-depleting and high global warming refrigerants through the use of advanced refrigeration technology.