Howe Corporation has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) as a silver member. The NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit taking action address the barriers slowing the widespread adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets to create a more climate-friendly future for refrigeration.
Howe Corporation is a family-owned manufacturer of ice flakers and ice bins used in retail and industrial applications. The company was founded in 1912 when “artificial ice” began to gain traction over harvested ice imported by rail, allowing Howe Corporation to quickly grow as an industry leader. Since then, Howe Corporation has demonstrated great innovation along with a commitment to natural refrigerants through their CO2 and ammonia compatible flake ice machines and ice bins. Howe Corporation, as a leader in the market, has offered CO2 flake ice machines for commercial applications since 2009.
“We are proud to join the NASRC and emphasize our commitment to low-global warming potential solutions,” said David Barrent, vice president of engineering and operations at Howe Corporation.“The NASRC provides a forum for manufacturers, end-users, and other industry stakeholders to collaborate and develop solutions to remove barriers to market adoption of low-GWP technologies. We are proud to participate in this forum with our industry partners.”
The supermarket industry has seen a recent increase in demand for low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant technologies. This has led to a rise in demand for natural refrigerants,which have negligible GWPs and are exempt from all existing and pending refrigerant regulations.
As the demand for low-GWP refrigerant technologies increases, a growing number of supermarkets are looking for equipment options that can be used with natural refrigerants. Howe Corporation is helping to ease the transition to natural refrigerants through the ir product offerings that are compatible with natural refrigerant technologies.
“No single refrigeration technology is going to be the right choice for every store,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of the NASRC. “One thing supermarkets need right now is a variety of market-ready technologies that allow them to comply with refrigerant regulations without disrupting business as usual.”
Despite the growing demand for natural refrigerants, they are not yet widely adopted in the U.S. due to a unique set of market barriers. The NASRC is focused on removing those barriers to make natural refrigerants a strong economic choice for supermarkets.
The organization works directly with the strong network of industry stakeholders that make up NASRC membership to drive initiatives that address the upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies, remove uncertainty around lifecycle costs, and ensure availability of service technicians who are qualified to handle natural refrigerants.
“We are pleased to welcome Howe Corporation tour network,” said Wright. “A number of our supermarket members are looking for equipment that help them seamlessly transitions to natural refrigerants, and Howe Corporation is a great example of a company providing those products.”
In addition to Howe Corporation, NASRC is supported by a strong network of members, which represents over 24,000 supermarket locations in North America, major equipment manufacturers, service contractors, and other stakeholders.
