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HY-VEE Chills with EPA to Battle Climate Change
Hy-Vee s mission to make lives "easier, healthier and happier" just got a little greener. Hy-Vee, Inc. announced
that the company is partnering with the US EPA's GreenChill Program to reduce refrigerant emissions and help
protect the ozone layer and fight climate change.
"I h-Vee's participation in GreenChill underscores the company's commitment to sustainability in all aspects of
our operations," according to Michael Smith, Hy-Vee's Director of Real Estate & Sustainability. "From the
design and construction of our stores to our energy conservation, waste reduction and product sourcing efforts,
Hy-Vee has adopted a host of earth-friendly practices that promote the well-being of customers, employees,
communities and the global environment:'
The public wants to do business with companies that share their environmental values, according to EPA. By
joining GreenChill, Hy-Vee pledges to the public to go bej'ond regulatory requirements to protect the ozone layer
and combat climate change. The ozone layer protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin
cancer, cataracts and other ailments.
"Hy-Vee is setting an excellent example of environmental leadership among supermarkets by voluntarily reducing
the company's impact on the earth's ozone layer and on climate change," says Keilly Witman, EPA's GreenChill
Manager. "We at EPA hope that Hy-Vee's commitment will spur its competitors to meet Hy-Vee's standards and
take the same challenge."
By joining GreenChill, Hy-Vee commits to:
— Require that all of its new and remodeled stores use environmentally friendlier refrigerants.
-- Reduce the amount of refrigerant they use and eliminate refrigerant leaks.
-- Adopt green refrigeration technologies, strategies, and practices.
The GreenChill Partnership was launched in 2007. It now includes 49 partners with close to 5,500 stores
throughout the nation. GreenChill's supermarket partners' refrigerant leak rates are about 50 percent lower than
the industry average, the EPA estimates. If every supermarket in the nation reduced its refrigerant emissions to
the GreenChill average leak rate, the nation would save the equivalent of 22 metric tons of carbon dioxide every
year, which is the same as taking more than 4,000,000 passenger vehicles off the road.
Ozone-damaging refrigerants will be gradually phased out of the marketplace. However, harmful refrigerants in
pre-existing refrigeration systems often continue to leak. Even replacement refrigerants that do not damage the
ozone layer can contribute significantly to global warming. That is why reducing stores' refrigerant emissions is
doubly important, the EPA adds. EPA's GreenChill Partnership works with supermarkets to reduce harmful
refrigerant emissions from stores. This will help preserve the ozone layer and address climate change.
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating 229 retail stores in eight Midwestern states. In fiscal
year 2009 the company posted record sales of $6.4 billion, ranking it among the top 30 supermarket chains and
the top 50 private companies in the U.S. For more information, visit the company's website at www.hy-vee.com
For more information about EPA's GreenChill Partnership go to www.epa.gov/greenchill.

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