THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Sprouts Farmers Market said Thursday it will host a community open house next week at its first GreenChill Platinum Award-winning store here.
The open house is being held in conjunction with Hill Phoenix, a Conyers, Ga.-based designer and manufacturer of commercial refrigeration equipment, which designed the refrigeration system at the store. Sprouts, based in Phoenix, Ariz., said the store is only the third supermarket in the nation to receive the Environmental Protection Agency's highest GreenChill award.
Jerry Stutler, vice president construction and facility engineering, said Sprouts challenged Hill Phoenix "to come up with a [store] design that would reduce our use of refrigerants by an amount that would allow us to meet GreenChill Platinum standards."
According to Hill Phoenix, the store uses a refrigeration technology in which CO2 is used as a secondary coolant for its medium-temperature system and as a direct expansion cascade refrigerant for the low-temperature system — an approach with the potential to reduce a store's HFC refrigerant charge by more than 70%.
