R-22 Shortage in Supermarkets
How a 25-location supermarket can maintain both a
cold environment and a reasonable budget in
constrained R-22 material market.
Three major issues are affecting R-22 today:
1. Massive reduction in R-22 availability due to EPA controls on imports & production. These controls are intended to reduce emissions in order that the US meet our obligations under the Montreal Protocol
2. A shift in manufacturing from the USA to ASIA in production. As more materials are manufactured in Asia, the logistics constraints and inventory responsibilities have a major impact on availability, pricing & terms.
3. New regulations to track leaks, manage installations and register climate control systems. AB32, GHG reporting via 40CFR & DOE programs to restrict use of obsolete equipment.
If you cannot measure it you, cannot manage it.
Now that R-22 is experiencing serious availability constraints, it’s important that system owners begin a speedy, orderly process to manage the systems that require R-22 to a reasonable end of life, while meeting both their environmental responsibilities & their budget. As the chart shows, if you begin a planned retrofit schedule, reuse the extracted refrigerants from older systems to replenish leaks in existing systems, you can reduce usage, save money and use your own supplies from waste streams of your scrap units to insure you meet all obligations.
| 1. In 2012, you begin to retire 20% of your R-22 equipment 2. You Reclaim (Collect) 70% of R22 from retired assets 3. Your in service units require 20% of full charge for leak per year 4. You begin to Clean and return the collected material at $4.25/lb and that cost increases 10% /year 5. Virgin R22 cost $12 / lb in 2012 and increases 5% /year (based off of historical trends) 6. You manage 25 supermarkets with 1500 lbs of R22 installed on average
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Installed Inventory (lbs) | 37500 | 30000 | 24000 | 19200 | 15360 | 12288 | 9830.4 | 7864.32 | 0 |
| Gas needed for leaks (lbs) | 7500 | 6000 | 4800 | 3840 | 3072 | 2457.6 | 1966.08 | 1572.864 | 0 |
| Gas Returned from previous year reclaim (lbs) | 0 | 5250 | 4200 | 3360 | 2688 | 2150.4 | 1720.32 | 1376.256 | 5505.024 |
| Reclaimed Gas Cost / lb | $4.25 | $4.38 | $4.51 | $4.64 | $4.78 | $4.93 | $5.07 | $5.23 | $5.38 |
| Reclaimed Gas Cost / total | $0.00 | $22,981.88 | $18,937.07 | $15,604.14 | $12,857.81 | $10,594.84 | $8,730.15 | $7,193.64 | |
| Virgin Purchase (credit) amount | $7,500.00 | $750.00 | $600.00 | $480.00 | $384.00 | $307.20 | $245.76 | $196.61 | -$5,505.02 |
| Price of R22 / lb | $12.00 | $12.60 | $13.23 | $13.89 | $14.59 | $15.32 | $16.08 | $16.89 | $8.86 |
| Cost of R22 Total | $90,000 | $32,432 | $26,875 | $22,272 | $18,459 | $15,300 | $12,682 | $10,513 | -$48,775 |
In our study we assume we are working with a supermarket chain with 25 locations. Each locations has 1500 lbs of R22 installed. We then assumed a 20% reduction of R-22 older units, a 20% leak rate from installed equipment and a 70% recovery rate from retired units would end up yielding a per unit cost of only $1,797 per store! This solution is reasonable and affordable as well as environmentally sound.
- Check out how California is addressing refrigerant management in the supermarket setting: http://www.coolcalifornia.org/article/refrigerant-management.
- Be a part of the revolution by joining the EPA’s GreenChill program: http://www.epa.gov/greenchill/
Please contact us to learn more about how to deploy this simple process or for consulting assistance. Chase Sanders- 615-686-5414
« Previous | Next »