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Tesco opens zero carbon store

3/2/2010

Ramsey store has low energy ovens in the bakery and LED lighting in the car park.

Tesco officially opened its first zero carbon store this week in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire. The store is the latest move in the company's strategy to be a zero carbon business by 2050.

The store incorporates:

• sustainably sourced timber frame
• roof lights and sun pipes for natural daylighting
• energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems
• rainwater collection to flush toilets and run the carwash
• combined heat and power (CHP)
• no harmful refrigerants in the refrigerators, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems
• LED-lighting in the car park
• solar powered streetlights
• energy-efficient equipment, such as low-energy bakery ovens

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy told the Guardian newspaper that the store cost 30 per cent more to build than the norm, but used half the energy. Tesco's aim is that by 2020 the average carbon footprint of new stores will be halved on 2006 levels.

The company last year opened its first LEED gold rated store in the USA and is backing a sustainable consumption institute at the University of Manchester.

Tesco is also one of 18 major companies to have signed up to work together to empower consumers on climate change. Speaking at the Royal Society last October, Leahy pledged: "Just as the zero-carbon store is the aim for Tesco, the zero-carbon home must be the eventual goal for consumers.  Working with others, we will identify clear ways in which our customers can halve their personal and domestic carbon footprints by 2020."