Gerawan’s cold storage facility boasts one of the most technologically advanced refrigeration systems in the world. Pre-cooling rooms bring over one million pounds of hot, field fresh fruit to 32º F in just six to eight hours. Over 250,000 square feet of refrigerated space is maintained with a 99 percent relative humidity.

For the walls Gerawan selected the THERMOMASS Building System. By sandwiching high performance STYROFOAM insulation between two layers of concrete, a high mass wall panel is created that is durable and energy efficient. With over 50,000 packages of stone fruit, grapes, kiwis and persimmons shipped and received daily, these high mass walls 'store energy' and smooth the peaks and valleys of the cooling load.

Ray Penner, Refrigeration Manager for Gerawan Farming, has been very impressed with this THERMOMASS insulated facility.

"We operate about 250,000 square feet under refrigeration. The operating temperature varies from about 29º F to about 33º F. The rooms are very, very large -- 100 ft. wide and 200 ft. long. It usually takes 200 tons of refrigeration to maintain the room and we're only using 50 to 90 tons to keep this THERMOMASS facility at 32º F," said Penner.