If successful, could help save over 70,000 tonnes of CO2 as per replacement plan

According to a news item in International Supermarket News (ISN), Sainsbury’s is trialling the world’s first naturally refrigerated trailer to transport chilled and frozen goods. The CO2 refrigerated unit trial is part of the retailer’s review of its transport refrigeration gas, to reduce its carbon footprint, which includes converting its stores to natural refrigeration by 2030, the news item reported.

Sainsbury’s, said ISN, was the first UK retailer to commit voluntarily to phasing out harmful HFC refrigerants, and consequently converted its refrigerated depots in 2011 and is in the process of switching 250 stores to CO2 refrigerant by 2014. Over 160 stores have already reportedly moved to the natural refrigeration system. Currently all new stores are fitted with CO2 as standard and its Haslucks Green Local store in Solihull is also trialling the very first small-scale CO2 refrigeration system, making it Britain’s greenest convenience store, ISN said.

Sainsbury’s is said to be working with Carrier Transicold in a two-year trial of the new HFC-free cooling technology for road transport, using a modified version of Carrier’s NaturaLINE refrigeration system.

INS quoted Nick Davies, Sainsbury’s Head of Transport Operations, as saying: “The new carbon dioxide technology has much less of an impact on climate change, and we hope it will play a big part in helping us reduce our carbon emissions. We will be monitoring its performance closely and if successful, in line with our replacement plan, it could help us save over 70,000 tonnes of CO2 compared to the current refrigerated trailer fleet.”

According to ISN, Sainsbury’s has also recently extended its Dual-Fuel fleet to 51 vehicles saving up to 25% per in carbon emissions (over 2,090 tonnes of CO2). Claimed to be presently the largest environmentally friendly fleet in the UK, reportedly operates on a combination of diesel and bio-methane, produced from rotting organic material in landfill. Each Dual-Fuel vehicle is claimed to save around 41 tonnes of CO2 from being dispersed into the atmosphere each year.

As per its 20×20 Sustainability Plan, the retailer aims to reduce its depot to store transport CO2 emissions by 35% by 2020 and achieve an absolute reduction of 50% by 2030, against a 2005 baseline, the INS report said.

Source: www.internationalsupermarketnews.com