United States
. California is working on an incentive program to prevent harmful refrigerant emissions. If passed, the Refrigerant Incentive Program will be the beginning of the end of supermarkets' struggles against the phase-out of refrigerants, regulations, and government dictates on the issue.
California's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program raises a significant amount of money each year. The money collected must, by law, be invested in programs that combat climate change.
The money California collects is allocated to three-year climate change programs. The first investment plan began in 2013, and will end in June 2016. California is considering which projects will receive money from the investment fund for the next three-year period (July 2016-June 2019).
The program's argument claims that the supermarket industry knows it is impossible to solve the environmental problems caused by refrigerant leaks using a repair-based approach, and the EPA's federal flagship program reflects just that. A policy based on reparation will not lead to zero emissions, because there must be a weakness for the policy to initiate. Why can't the same supermarkets pay for more environmentally friendly technologies, including those that use natural refrigerants? Keilly Witman, owner of KW Refrigerant Management Strategy, further explains that, with prices often much more expensive than standard systems, supermarkets often do not find it reasonable to justify spending 20% to 100% more for an advanced system when industry profit margins are as low as 1% and new technology is often perceived as risky.
Prices are incredibly high for environmentally friendly technology options; the California Refrigerant Incentive Program will catalyze change. If successful, the program will create enough volume to allow manufacturers to achieve economies of scale and encourage them to set prices in the U.S. go down.
Service contractors will have more opportunities to bid on projects and gain experience with these types of systems. Organizations like the NASRC can collect data on system performance and share information across companies, leading other supermarket companies to invest in these technologies, ultimately creating a self-sustaining cycle. The effects of this cycle will be nationwide – not just california.
