MORRIS PLAINS, NJ; IRVING, Texas, 7 August 2019: Honeywell and convenience retailer, 7-Eleven, Inc. in end July announced the adoption of Honeywell Solstice N40 (R-448A) refrigerant as 7-Eleven’s standard for remote condensers supporting their refrigeration cases installed across the United States and Canada, the refrigerant manufacturer said through a Press release.

According to the release, 7-Eleven also selected Honeywell’s lower global warming potential (GWP) alternative for retail refrigeration in Japan, last year, becoming the first leading retail chain in the country to adopt the refrigerant. Solstice N40 is the most widely accepted, lowest-GWP, nonflammable replacement for R-404A in stores, globally, the release quoted the company as claiming.

According to the release, 7-Eleven, Inc., set measurable corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals in 2016 to reduce its environmental footprint. The company’s CSR mission has three focus areas – planet, products and people, the release said. Using 2015 as a baseline, 7-Eleven committed to continuing to reduce its carbon footprint and increase community engagement in the United States and Canada by concentrating on energy, packaging and philanthropy, the release said.

“In the past few years, we’ve implemented several innovative measures, such as LED lighting, energy management systems, wind energy in select stores and high-efficiency HVAC units to reduce our CO₂ emissions,” said Ann Scott, Director of Energy, Engineering and Store Planning, 7-Eleven. “The use of Solstice N40 is an environmentally preferable alternative for 7-Eleven. Joining forces with Honeywell, which also embraces a mindset and goal to serve as environmental stewards, was a natural fit.”

7-Eleven, which aims to reduce its energy footprint in stores by 20% by 2027, has already invested in several energy and sustainability programmes to increase efficiency, reduce waste and resource consumption, the release said.

Sanjeev Rastogi, Vice President, Honeywell Fluorine Products, said: “7-Eleven has responsibly elected to adopt Solstice N40 to help lower their carbon footprint, save energy and meet regulatory requirements without undertaking massive changes to their systems.”

According to the release, based on hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) technology, Solstice N40 offers GWP that is approximately 60% lower than legacy HFC refrigerants like R-404A. In addition, the release said, Solstice N40 consumes less energy. In the United States and European supermarket trials, in comparison to R-404A, the release said, Solstice N40 demonstrated an average of five per cent lower energy consumption in low-temperature applications and between five and 15% lower energy consumption in medium-temperature applications.