WATSONVILLE, CA – California Giant has announced a streamlined renovation to the cooling system at its Watsonville facility, just in time for the 2016 berry season.

The company’s new west cooling facility received a modern cooling tower and condenser system, costing more than $200,000, as part of the company’s investment to sustainable and environmental responsibility, it said.

“The staff is really excited about the ability to use these new improvements to save energy and be more efficient,” Cindy Jewell, VP of Marketing for California Giant, tells me, adding that there is more growth in sustainability on the way for other company facilities.

“We definitely want to continue to improve our operations to be more environmentally aware. We also have a facility in Santa Maria and we are looking to see how we can improve technologies and efficiencies there as well.”

California Giant credited technological advances in a press release for its ability to now increase cooling fruit loads while decreasing the time and energy used. The company says that its new cooling tower consists of four independent and auto-adjusting fans, which is a big shift from its previous singular unit.

The 35,000-square-foot facility in Watsonville installed the new system this week, with final installation expected to be complete within the next week. The original unit, first installed in 1988 and weighing over 50,000 pounds, was removed by crane and transported to a recycling facility.

California Giant said it expects the new system to decrease cooling time by 20 minutes and use energy only based on the needs of each cooling load, making its upcoming season much more energy efficient.

Find out more about California Giant and its berry facilities at www.calgiant.com, and keep checking back with AndNowUKnow for more in industry technologies.

California Giant Berry Farms