Food Retail
SET FOR LIFE Sobeys, North America’s leading user of CO2-only refrigeration, chose a future-proof natural solution to avoid having to ever retrofit its systems again. Here’s how they did it. Yves Hugron Engineering Director Sobeys
— By Jana Topley Lira and Marc Chasserot
Nobody likes change, least of all food retailers. Yet when it comes to
The person in charge of refrigeration decisions and everything else relating
refrigeration, the last two decades have seen nothing but a constant
to building engineering is Sobeys’ director of engineering, Yves Hugron.
turnover in the kinds of refrigerants they are allowed to use. He works for Sobeys Quebec, one of four divisions -- alongside Sobeys Fed up with the continuous uncertainty, Sobeys -- Canada’s second largest
Maritime, Ontario, and Western Canada – in Sobeys Inc., based in Stellarton,
food retailer with 1,778 stores (852 of them franchised) -- became the first
Nova Scotia.
company in North America to do something about it. The retailer’s three Anglo Saxon divisions are grouped together, while the What Sobeys did was make transcritical refrigeration using only carbon
French-speaking Quebec division maintains an independent identity, which
dioxide – a natural refrigerant not subject to regulatory phaseouts – its
according to Hugron, helps to differentiate the province’s special relationship
standard system for new stores and major renovations.
with food.
Today Sobeys has 72 stores (including one opening in March) using a CO2
For Hugron and Sobeys’ engineering team, including equipment advisors
transcritical system, and 15-20 stores opening every year with CO2, making
Yves Beauregard and Patrick Gareau, continuing to use synthetic
it the de facto leader of transcritical installations in North America. Out of
refrigerants would offer no guarantees. In 10, 12, or 15 years Sobeys could
these new stores, at least 10 are renovations, which are always undertaken
be faced with another phaseout. As Hugron put it, “Why would we invest
while the store is open. Sobeys never loses a day of sales in its transition
in another replacement refrigerant with an uncertain future when another
to CO2.
technology using natural refrigerants was emerging in Europe?”
How did Sobeys come to this point?
Instead, Sobeys engineers travelled across “the pond” to look at what was being done in the European Union, where the market for commercial CO2
Sobeys started to take a keen interest in its refrigeration systems in 2008.
transcritical refrigeration technology was rapidly developing.
The Montreal Protocol had long been in place and the retailer knew it would bring more change. HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) like R22 were on the
Impressed by what the engineers had seen, Sobeys gathered them, as well
way out, and the future of HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) looked uncertain.
as technicians and system manufacturers, in one room, and presented them with a new mandate. The retailer wanted to eliminate synthetic refrigerants
The chain had already experienced the phaseout of ozone-depleting CFCs
from its estate in the long term and needed an alternative solution. Everyone
(chlorofluorocarbons), and transitioned from R11 and R12 to HCFCs, the
in the room that day was asked: “What can you do to help us achieve our
“new” generation of synthetic refrigerants at the time that also harmed the
goal?”
ozone layer. Now, the Montreal Protocol seems likely to once again phase out another “new” generation of synthetic refrigerants, HFCs, which contribute significantly to global warming. So Sobeys’ engineers asked themselves,
THEN THERE WERE TWO
“Is it wise to jump on the bandwagon and do what everyone else is doing? Should we invest in another generation of synthetic refrigerants?”
Initially, 10 companies answered Sobeys call. After a first meeting only six remained, the others not yet able to offer a natural refrigerant solution. Of
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Accelerate America February 2015