Finnish retailer Kesko has announced that, in compliance with Finland's Energy Efficiency Agreement, it has improved its annual energy efficiency by 67 GWh, which exceeds its 2008 commitment to 65 GWh.
The retailer pledges to carry on this progress by making a 79 GWh annual level reduction (7.5%) in energy consumption through various energy saving methods.
K-Group has said that its current energy savings level is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 3,400 detached houses, or 200 K-Stores - which consume an average of 340 MWh of energy per year.
Lights Off
The company has said that this significant improvement in energy efficiency has been achieved through savings in:
Lighting: LED lighting was introduced in K-Stores - creating savings of up to 50% on electricity compared to traditional lighting fixtures.
Refrigerator covers and doors: In K-food stores, lids on chest freezers helped save 40% of the energy compared to uncovered freezers. Doors on dairy and juice cabinets also helped save energy.
Remote monitoring of stores’ refrigeration equipment: This enables refrigeration equipment to be adjusted for optimum temperatures and defrosting cycles. It also makes it possible to immediately deal with any deviations. Through this, up to 5.5 GWh of energy was saved in 2015.
Condensation heat recovery: Condensation heat is recovered from refrigeration equipment at most K-food stores, which means that additional heat sources are not required except periods of extremely low temperatures.
Solar power utilities: In 2016, Finland’s largest property-specific solar power utility was installed on the roof of K-Citymarket Tammisto. That same year saw 11 other cases of installed solar units. At present this number is 16.
Kesko announced in February of this year that it intends to source 100% sustainably-produced, renewable electricity for all of its operations from that point onwards.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
