by Brianna Crandall — February 28, 2011—Sainsbury’s is testing experimental technology at its new store in Hythe, Kent, that monitors the grid and activates the store’s biofuel generator when there is an increased demand for electricity, thereby lessening the demand on reserve power stations and reducing the U.K.’s carbon footprint.
The generator is said to be the first of its kind and will be powered by waste oil and fat from Sainsbury’s stores to act as an auxiliary power source. Additional technology in the store will reduce strain on the grid further by deactivating or reducing the store’s heating, ventilation and lighting systems at peak times.
The first major output of Sainsbury’s partnership with Imperial College London’s Faculty of Engineering and Grantham Institute for Climate Change, the Smart Grid system is part of Sainsbury’s environmental stores program, through which the company invests in environmental technology to drive energy and carbon efficiency in an effort to lessen the impact of climate change. Technology trialed in environmental stores is often rolled out to future store developments as standard.
Sainsbury’s has reportedly been at the forefront of environmental store development for many years; it was the first retailer to use anaerobic digestion at scale to dispose of food waste, and opened the first store to be heated and cooled using geothermal energy at Crayford in September 2010.
For more information, see the Sainsbury’s Web site.
