Carrier Makes Progress in Lower Global Warming Potential Refrigerants Across the Cold Chain

WASHINGTON, DC… Against the backdrop of World Food Day and building on a commitment made one year ago to pursue low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants across the food cold chain by 2020, representatives from "http://www.carrier.com/carrier/en/us/"Carrier participated today in a roundtable on hydroflurocarbon (HFC) refrigerants held by the Executive Office of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. Carrier, the world’s leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions, is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
“We have made significant progress across the refrigeration cold chain,” said David Appel, president, Carrier Transicold & Refrigeration Systems. “Since the 2014 roundtable, Carrier provided technical analysis to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a natural refrigerant for transport refrigeration.
“We are making lower GWP refrigerants available to truck and trailer refrigeration customers. We’re also focusing research and development in this segment on the natural refrigerant CO2, which has a GWP of only one and is roughly 4,000 times better than conventional refrigerants used in transport and supermarket refrigeration applications,” added Appel. “Carrier offers customers some of the most environmentally sustainable refrigeration systems and we are committed to expanding our proven, environmentally responsible natural refrigerant systems for road transport.”
In addition to the more than 1,600 supermarkets in Europe using Carrier’s CO2OLtec® HFC-free natural refrigeration technologies for food retail, Carrier installed its first food retail units in China this year using natural refrigerants to help lower GWP emissions, and installed its first ultra-low GWP hydrofluro-olefin (HFO) chiller, in Switzerland.
A more sustainable cold chain can also extend food supplies and help reduce the growing problem of food waste. Carrier has taken an industry leadership position in the global effort to reduce food waste, and its impact on hunger, climate change and natural resources.
“Food waste measured as a country would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases,” said John Mandyck, UTC Chief Sustainability Officer and co-author of the book Food Foolish: The Hidden Connection Between Food Waste, Hunger and Climate Change, which calls attention to the extraordinary social and environmental opportunities created by wasting less food. “It’s imperative that we raise awareness of the important role sustainable, cold chain technologies play in helping developing countries reduce food waste to feed more people and reduce environmental impacts – on World Food Day and every day.”
The application of refrigeration technologies in the cold food chain is the key to keeping perishable and frozen foods well preserved, safe and fresh as they make their way from farm to fork, while increasing system efficiency to help reduce food waste.
“While more research and technical breakthroughs are needed, we believe that low GWP refrigerants – including CO2 as a natural refrigerant – hold great promise across the cold chain,” Appel added.
To learn more about Carrier, visit www.carrier.com or follow the brand on Twitter: "https://twitter.com/smartcoldchain"@SmartColdChain.