Target, Whole Foods Market become most climate-friendly retailers
Target uses a rackless refrigeration system while Whole Foods Market’s Hydrocarbon/CO2 Cascade System reduces the environmental impacts of refrigerants to near-zero.
Target Corp., Minneapolis, is said to be among the first companies in the supermarket industry to open new stores that use an innovative “rackless” refrigeration system, called a propane self-contained system. This system is expected to significantly decrease refrigeration energy use compared to traditional technology, and will keep grocery aisles warm by re-using the heat emitted by refrigeration systems as a natural by-product, thereby saving additional energy during cold months.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods Market, Emeryville, Calif., says its newly opened Santa Clara, Calif., store features what is said to be the most environmentally-advanced grocery retail refrigeration system in the United States. The system eliminates all direct greenhouse gas emissions from refrigeration, thereby preventing the more than 7,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent that a typical supermarket emits every year, which is more than the entire annual electricity use of over 1,000 homes.