Green For Us Means More Green For You
As a responsible company, Minus Forty has made environmental initiatives a hallmark of its operations from the company’s beginnings more than 30 years ago. Initially the goal was not only to make glass door refrigerator merchandisers and commercial upright freezer equipment, but to also be a leader in performance and reliability and more importantly energy efficiency. Over the years we expanded that to our entire production line – from the materials used to the facility we work in – it’s all intended to be as sustainable as possible.
Minus Forty was one of the first commercial refrigeration manufacturers to introduce energy saving LED lighting; we also utilize a unique condenser style that helps maintain operating efficiency. We’ve extended this into our manufacturing facility as well by ensuring a portion of the energy we use comes from green renewable energy sources. In 2014 we added our own roof mounted solar generating plant to our facility and with a 250-Kilowatt capacity we currently produce more than 20 per cent of the energy used to craft our cooling and freezing products, and we plan to move beyond 30 per cent by the year 2020.
Another factor in our products’ efficiency is the foam insulation that we use: it contains no ozone hazardous chemicals, no VOC’s (volatile organic compounds), no ODP (ozone depleting potential) or GWP (global warming potential) – not the norm in the industry, but a choice we are happy to have made.
Minus Forty further expanded its green initiative by converting our offices to paperless operations. Based on the success in our offices, the program has expanded to our manufacturing areas where operators rely on tablets to receive work orders and instructions. Any paper we still use is produced from sustainable forest programs.
By using greener products in our manufacturing processes, generating solar power on our plant roof, and operating a paper-free office, we are making a difference every day.
Not only do these choices benefit the environment and fight climate change, they also mean significant cost savings for our customers. As part of two legislative changes in the US, we changed our refrigerant to R290 which has two main benefits: much lower greenhouse gas emissions, (R290 has no ODP – ozone depletion potential – and a very low GWP, or global warming potential), and more efficient units. If you compare our pre-R290 units to the post-R290 units, there’s a 55 per cent drop in energy usage on average, across all our products. As an example, our 22 cubic foot previously used 15 kW hours per day but now consumes less than 6 kW because of engineering improvements and because it’s now running on R290 refrigerant. Every watt that can be saved is not only another step towards a greener planet, it is also money added to your bottom line.
Minus Forty takes its commitment to the environment seriously, and even with our rapid growth in refrigerated merchandisers we always make sure to pause and consider all the ways we can operate more cleanly, efficiently and sustainable. It’s not just good for the planet, it’s good for business.