A significant portion of the market’s 8,000 sq. ft. retail space requires medium- and low-temperature refrigeration, so the system was a focus point for supporting Gem City Market’s environmental responsibility, long-term energy savings, low operating costs, and ease of maintenance. For this project, Emerson, Hussmann, and Chemours integrated their individual areas of expertise. Emerson donated its Copeland scroll booster refrigeration architecture. Copeland scroll booster technology enables Gem City Market to combine a low-pressure, lower global-warming potential (GWP) refrigerant with a distributed architecture, which is an alternative to large, centralized systems. In addition to Emerson’s donation was an assembled refrigeration system from Hussmann and lower-GWP A1 refrigerant Opteon XP10 (R-513A) from Chemours.

“Working to address food insecurity reinforces Emerson’s company purpose: We drive innovation that makes the world healthier, safer, smarter and more sustainable,” said Rajan Rajendran, global vice president environmental sustainability of Emerson’s commercial and residential solutions business. “We are proud to be recognized with others in our industry for this project, which highlights an inventive architecture that is making advanced refrigeration solutions accessible for operators of small-format retail stores who want to make the transition to more sustainable refrigeration options.”

The Environment+Energy Leader Awards program recognizes excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, and in projects implemented by companies that improved environmental or energy management and increased revenue. According to Sarah Roberts, Environment+Energy Leader publisher, the experienced and critical judging panel, coupled with a strict set of criteria, mean that entrants faced an extremely high level of difficulty to qualify for an award. Judges’ comments about the Gem City Market Project included:

• “The project has the added benefit of highlighting the intersection of environmental and social impact with regard to opening a food store in an underserved community, where lower operating costs might really be a make-or-break issue.”
• “The Gem City Market is an exceptional, well-thought collaborative project that will yield both energy and environmental benefits for years to come.”
• “Lower energy use will also result in lower costs of operation, which is especially relevant for a low-margin industry such as food retail.”

The Gem City Market, which opened in May 2021, makes healthy, affordable food accessible to thousands of residents. Its reduced energy usage will pay dividends for decades in the form of lower energy bills, potentially representing a large percentage of its overall operating costs.