Capstone Projects

Your Organic Grocer and Its Wholesalers: Produce Supply Chain Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Analysis

Program: Sustainable Management Bachelor's
Location: Rockville, Maryland (onsite)
Student: Amanda Ebersole

This is a client-based project with Your Organic Grocer (YOG) that focuses on research and analyses of energy use and energy efficiency in cold storage warehouses and refrigerated transportation including carbon footprint calculations. YOG’s wholesale partner, Harvest Produce, has implemented many energy efficiency improvements in their refrigerated warehouse such as solar panels and an energy efficient ammonia refrigeration system with variable frequency motor drives, which are a focused topic of research. Additionally, there are recommendations made for how another wholesale partner, Pennsylvania Farm Cooperative, can make their similar cold storage process more sustainable.