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Sprouts Farmers Market will host a community open house at Sprouts’ first GreenChill Platinum Award-winning store on May 17 in Thousand Oaks

Hill PHOENIXTHOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (CitizenWire) — Hill PHOENIX, a designer and manufacturer of commercial refrigeration equipment, and Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market will host a community open house at Sprouts' first GreenChill Platinum Award-winning store on May 17 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The Westlake Village store is only the third grocery store in the nation to receive the EPA's highest GreenChill Award.

GreenChill is an EPA Partnership with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change.

GreenChill works to help food retailers:
* Transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants;
* Lower refrigerant charge sizes and eliminate leaks; and
* Adopt green refrigeration technologies, strategies, and practices.

"Hill PHOENIX's project with fellow GreenChill Partner Sprouts is a perfect example of what companies can do when they take the 'GreenChill spirit' and push the boundaries of the achievable," said Keilly Witman, manager of EPA's GreenChill Partnership. "This store represents many firsts: the first CO2 cascade system to achieve platinum, the first platinum store west of the Mississippi, and the first time a store was designed from the ground up to achieve GreenChill standards."

In collaboration with Sprouts' construction and facilities engineering team, Hill PHOENIX designed and manufactured an innovative new solution featuring a full CO2 cascade system for both low temperature and medium temperature applications – the Second Nature(R) MT2LX.

"We challenged Hill PHOENIX to come up with a design that would reduce our use of refrigerants by an amount that would allow us to meet GreenChill Platinum standards," said Jerry Stutler, vice president, construction and facility engineering for Sprouts Farmers Market. "We felt that Hill PHOENIX was more advanced in the engineering and manufacturing of CO2 systems than any other manufacturer on the market today."

The Second Nature MT2LX system is one of the most environmentally responsible refrigeration systems available in the industry today and represents the next step in CO2 refrigeration technology. CO2 is used as a secondary coolant for the medium-temperature system and as a direct expansion cascade refrigerant for the low-temperature system.

The advantages of a CO2-based cascade system include:
* CO2 is considered a natural refrigerant with very low global warming potential (GWP=1).
* CO2 is an inexpensive, widely available refrigerant compared with HFC.
* A more than 70 percent reduction in HFC refrigerant charge can be achieved. The entire primary refrigerant charge is confined to the machine room and condenser to enable simple leak detection and servicing.
* The lines required for CO2 transport are typically one to two sizes smaller than traditional DX piping systems, reducing the weight of installed copper lines by 50 percent of more and reducing installation costs.

"Sprouts is on a quest not only to provide consumers with fresh and organic products in a unique shopping format, they are working to reduce their global carbon footprint from every aspect," said Tom McFarlane, regional sales manager for Hill PHOENIX. "Our involvement in that effort is a great example of the collaborative innovation that makes Hill PHOENIX a leader in sustainable, energy efficient commercial refrigeration solutions."

About Hill PHOENIX:

Hill PHOENIX Inc., a Dover Company, is based in Conyers, Ga. The company designs and manufactures commercial refrigerated display cases and specialty products, refrigeration systems, integrated power distribution systems and walk-in coolers and freezers. Visit www.hillphoenix.com or call 800-283-1109 for more information.

About Sprouts Farmers Market:

Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market's distinctive format offers a bright, cheery shopping experience that has been its cornerstone since the founders, the Boney family, opened their first produce stand in 1943. Our stores feature natural, organic and favorite indulgence foods at a great value, including mountains of fresh produce, all natural meats, seafood delivered six days a week and over 300 bins of bulk rices, spices, nuts and grains. Additionally, Sprouts offers a wide variety of natural and organic grocery and dairy items, featuring our own private label including over 1,000 gluten-free products. We also offer a large selection of vitamins, supplements, and healthy body care products. Sprouts now has 99 locations in Arizona, California, Texas and Colorado. For weekly ads, and other nutritional information, visit http://sprouts.com .

About EPA's GreenChill Partnership:

The EPA GreenChill Partnership works with supermarkets to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change. The Partnership provides information and assistance to help supermarkets transition to environmentally-friendlier refrigerants; reduce harmful refrigerant emissions; and adopt green refrigeration technologies, strategies and practices. For more information on EPA's GreenChill Partnership, including its store certification program, please visit www.epa.gov/greenchill .

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