Delhaize-owned Food Lion, LLC and refrigeration manufacturer Kysor//Warren have rolled out a cascading refrigeration system that uses naturally occurring carbon dioxide to keep frozen and fresh foods cold.

Food Lion demonstrated the system during an event held for industry peers and members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership, a cooperative alliance working to reduce the use of ozone-depleting gases and curb greenhouse gas refrigerant emissions, at its College Park, Ga., store, a 35,000-square-foot facility that opened in September. The store is Food Lion’s fourth GreenChill advanced refrigeration store and its third store to incorporate the use of CO2, a natural compound that reduces the amount of refrigerants needed to keep products cool or frozen by more than 30 percent.

“Food Lion has a long-standing commitment to environmentally friendly operations,” said Wayne Rosa, energy and maintenance manager for the Salisbury, N.C.-based grocer. “The advanced refrigeration system in our College Park store offers sustainability-minded grocers like Food Lion another way to dramatically reduce the amount of ozone-depleting refrigerants their coolers and freezers use.”

The system uses just one condensing unit to refrigerate and freeze foods. Before Columbus, Ga.-based Kysor//Warren developed this system, grocers incorporating CO2 refrigeration systems needed two condensing units as well as a freezer-specific system and a refrigeration (medium temperature) -specific system. This is Kysor//Warren’s first CO2 advanced refrigeration system in a retail grocery store setting.

Food Lion was one of the first grocers to voluntarily commit to the EPA’s GreenChill advanced refrigeration partnership, an initiative where companies pledge to go above and beyond regulatory requirements in protecting the ozone layer and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Food Lion was also one of EPA’s first Energy Star partners and has 892 certified stores, more than half of the Energy Star-certified stores in the United States. In addition, Food Lion is the only grocery chain to win eight consecutive EPA Energy Star awards.

Food Lion, LLC operates more than 1,300 supermarkets, either directly or through affiliated entities, under the names of Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys, and Reid’s.