Category: Refrigeration

Cooling towers provide cooling for air-conditioning, manufacturing processes, or power generation by utilizing the evaporation of water to transfer heat from the process or building to the atmosphere.

That was the context of the second Atmosphere America Natural Refrigerants Conference that took place this summer in Washington, D.C. The approach was a very unsentimental business case for wider use in North America, especially the U.S., of such refrigerants as ammonia (R-717), CO2 (R-744), and the HC propane (R-290).

Delhaize America this week is opening a grocery store that will use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant rather than hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) — the first such supermarket in the US, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency.

When they pop into the Walgreens store at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Keeney Street in Evanston, Illinois, consumers probably will be buying milk, refilling their prescription, or printing photos from their summer vacations.