Last month, Tesco Lotus opened Asia’s first zero carbon hypermarket in Bang Phra, Thailand, incorporating hydrocarbon based Tesco Asia’s first zero carbon store uses hydrocarbonsrefrigeration equipment.
“Our zero carbon stores use the latest technologies to reduce our environmental impact and really show our commitment to greener growth”, said Helen Fleming, Group Climate Change Director at Tesco. “Our climate change programme is central to the way we do business – not only are our actions good for the environment, they also make good business sense. Our energy efficient measures reduce costs in the business by about £200m each year.”
Previously, the Thai retailer was the first in Asia to have installed a cascade refrigeration system using natural refrigerant CO2 at its Tesco Lotus Salaya store, about 1 hour west of Bangkok.
Store sustainability features
Among the sustainability features to reduce the environmental footprint of the store and ensure that the store’s net emissions for lighting, air conditioning and refrigerants are zero over the year are:
- Replacing hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant gases with high Global Warming Potential (GWP) with hydrocarbons
- Use of lower wattage LED lighting and use of natural light on the sales floor
- A wind turbine and solar farm of photovoltaic cells to produce energy for the store, with any excess power being fed into the grid
- Use of biogas from waste for food preparation in the store
- Rainwater collection for use in the car wash and store toilets
About Tesco Lotus
The Thai retailer has set a target of 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 against a 2006 baseline.
There are over 660 Tesco Lotus stores, of which 88 are hypermarkets, providing service to over 34 million customers each month.
