Walnut Creek, California—The Arcticom Group (TAG) has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) as a platinum member. The NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit focused on eliminating the barriers slowing the adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets, including training for service contractors.
TAG is a service contractor with expertise in the design and delivery of maintenance programs, repairs, retrofits, remodels, and new store deployments in the commercial refrigeration industry. The company has grown rapidly since their founding in 2017, and now provides service and maintenance in ten states across the Western United States, and installation services throughout the entire country.
“The Arcticom Group’s participation with the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council is a logical extension of our values and our mission,” said Jim Pape, CEO of TAG. “As one of our nation’s largest supermarket-focused service and installation companies, we bear a heavy daily responsibility for the refrigerant responsibilities of our customers. By affiliation with NASRC, we add our capabilities to the NASRC goals for growing trained support infrastructure for natural refrigerant systems.”
Across the country, the supermarket industry has begun to transition to climate-friendly refrigerants with low global warming potential (GWP). Natural refrigerants, including carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia (NH3), and hydrocarbons, are very low-GWP refrigerant alternatives, but the transition to natural refrigerants and other low-GWP alternatives has presented a challenge for many supermarkets due to a unique set of market barriers.
One frequently cited barrier is a lack of qualified technicians who are trained to service natural refrigerant systems, and the need for qualified service technicians is expected to grow as more natural refrigerant systems are installed. There are a number of factors contributing to this challenge, including a shrinking technician workforce and limitations on existing trainings and training resources.
The NASRC was formed to address this challenge along with other barriers that are slowing the adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets. The organization has brought together over 125 industry organizations to take actions that overcome the challenges associated with naturals, and TAG’s participation will bring a new perspective on the “service readiness” barriers the NASRC is dedicated to addressing.
“TAG locations all have direct experience with installing and maintaining natural refrigerant systems,” said Pape. “At TAG, we are committed to aggressively growing that expertise through our own in-house programs and the use of great content from industry leading manufacturers. Robust installation and maintenance capacity are necessary building blocks to de-risking and accelerating the adoption of natural refrigerant systems.”
“The Arcticom Group will add strength to our initiatives and our membership network,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of the NASRC. “We look forward to leveraging their perspective and expertise to help us overcome service readiness barriers to natural refrigerant adoption.”
In addition to TAG, 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.
More information about The Arcticom Group is available at www.thearcticomgroup.com.