Sainsbury’s has just opened its most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient supermarket to date.

Sainsbury’s has just opened its most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient supermarket to date.

In Hook, Hampshire, Sainsbury’s has opened a brand new flagship supermarket, which is expected to consume only half the energy of a similar-sized Sainsbury’s shop and 25% less electricity than the company’s other most energy-efficient supermarkets. This reduction in energy consumption is expected to take place in the coming years.

Sainsbury’s is building on and bringing together a variety of energy-saving technologies that are already available in other stores across its estate. To arrive at the design of the new 25,000 sq. ft. supermarket, the company used breakthroughs in construction and engineering. This allowed the company to build on and bring together the features.

A shop that is better for the environment in the following ways:

Sainsbury’s Hook will run solely on power derived from renewable sources and will not use any fossil fuels in any capacity.

A cold aisle retrieval system will be utilised to maintain the optimal temperature of the aisles. This system will take any air that may escape from the refrigerators and redistribute it to various regions of the store in order to maintain a colder temperature in the aisles.

The company then uses the warm air that is collected from the back of its refrigerators to heat other portions of the store.

The cold aisle retrieval system will recycle approximately two-thirds of the total amount of energy that is used.

The shop is also taking part in a new experiment that is testing the usage of doors on chilled cabinets. The doors will prevent warm air from escaping and will reduce the energy requirements of the cabinets by as much as sixty percent. Additional energy savings have been realised as a direct result of the installation of lids on frozen food display cabinets, which perform the same function.

The use of ambient air door curtains will help to cut down on the amount of heat that the business needs to provide while also improving the comfort level of the customers by mitigating the effects of naturally occurring draughts.

There are over 700 solar panels installed on the roof, and it is anticipated that they will supply the store with up to 300 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity on an annual basis.

The entire store was outfitted with 100% LED lighting, and there are sensors on the shop floor that will enable the lighting to adjust automatically in response to the amount of natural sunshine present. This helps to ensure that no energy is wasted.

The installation of low-pressure bathroom faucets and rainwater harvesting at Sainsbury’s Hook will make a contribution to the retailer’s goal of becoming water-neutral by the year 2040.

The new store will serve as a model for all subsequent Sainsbury’s Superstores, and the company plans to incorporate and improve upon everything at Sainsbury’s Hook that has proven to be successful in the construction of new supermarkets. Additionally, the company will refit its existing estate with the technology wherever it is feasible to do so.

Source

GSN