Cam Lewis is one of many farmers and horticultural managers who have worked with DTS to swap out R404A refrigerant gas from dairy and packhouse chillers to the lower GWP refrigerant— R499A.
Cam is fourth generation on the Lewis family’s Dunoon property between Foxton and Levin.
As a multigenerational business, Cam says that they understand the need to look after the environment.
“We hope our family legacy will continue for years to come. We take a pretty long view of looking after the environment and, for us, it needs to make financial sense as well. The DTS R404A gas swap out ticks all the boxes.”
"There’s no downside," says Cam. “Some people are driven by their environmental footprint. This obviously ticks that box. Some people are driven purely by financial metrics. Again, it ticks that box. Some people, like me, are driven by both.”
The R404A-R449A swap out scheme provides a changeover from R404A gas to R449A, a significantly lower impact gas.
Eventually, 90 percent of gas leaks out – so when refrigerant leaks do happen, if units are charged with the newer R449A, the environmental impact is reduced by 67 percent. On top of that, farming and commercial refrigeration systems, such as those operating in vineyards, breweries, fisheries, butcheries, and horticultural operations, can improve energy efficiency by up to ten percent if they move to the lower impact gas. In turn, the lower power generation reduces emissions further.
Cam Lewis (Lewis Farm) and Aaron Evans (DTS Area Manager)
Cam Lewis ~ Lewis Farm Manager
“The move was an absolute no-brainer because we are moving to a more environmentally friendly gas. The old gas was incredibly expensive. Every time we had a gas leak and we had to buy more it was eye-watering numbers... and the swap out itself was cost neutral, seamless and no risk.”
Gavin Thwaites, DTS CEO says the interest in addressing climate impact is growing across business owners from the primary sector and every reduction counts towards a healthier planet and sustainable future.
In the first year of the R404A swap out campaign, DTS has extracted four tonnes of R404A – a gas considered one of the worst refrigerants in the country for greenhouse gas emissions. Four tonnes of R404A leaking into the atmosphere is the equivalent to 10,000 tonnes of C02e or a diesel vehicle being driven 60 million kilometres.
“This gas-to-gas swap is one easy way business owners and operators can make a change. We’re confident that, this time next year, we’ll have removed, at least, another four tonnes of gas from the supply chain. We’d like to see a figure much higher than that.”
Industry reports estimate around 700 Tonnes of R404A is circulating through New Zealand’s refrigerated cold food chain. DTS is open to working with government and other refrigeration and primary sector companies to make a more significant dent in New Zealand’s R404A store. DTS is also exploring new technical and manufacturing initiatives to reduce reliance on harmful hydrocarbon gases across dairy and other parts of the cold food chain.