A new supermarket in Devon is claiming to have slashed its carbon dioxide emissions by 40%, compared to other similar stores. Sainsbury's new flagship green store opened at Dartmouth in August, aiming to cut consumption of energy, water, timber and land, as well as running lorries on waste.
The store hopes to be one of the first supermarkets to achieve a BREEAM "Excellent" rating, and has been designed to have a lower carbon footprint. This will be achieved by using wind turbines to power checkouts and a biomass boiler for space and water heating. The store uses no gas and the amount of electricity drawn from the national grid will be half of that used by a traditional store. The new store is also highly insulated and airtight. Rainwater will be collected and used to flush toilets and irrigate plants.
Lower lighting levels make carbon savings and cool air will be collected from chillers to keep the store cool during warmer months. The lights at the back of the store turn off if nobody is there. Recycled and recyclable materials were used when possible during construction, along with FSC-approved timber. Not only is the supermarket building green, but daily food deliveries to the new store will be made by a lorry powered by rotting rubbish, using methane gas as power.
Commercial Director Neil Sachdev said, "We are really proud of our new flagship environmental store in Dartmouth. It is a leader in sustainable construction, it's sensitive to its local environment and is extremely low in energy usage. We've been keen to experiment with a number of energy saving measures and now we want to apply all these benefits to the rest of our stores."
Sainsbury's has an overall target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per square metre by 25% by 2012 in its stores, and says it is seriously committed to reducing its carbon footprint.
