Sainsbury’s is rolling out technology inspired by Formula 1 to keep its chilled food cooler and shoppers warmer.
The supermarket is installing aerofoil technology, a method used to keep F1 cars cool, in the cold aisles across all its 2,000 stores by the middle of 2018.
The aerofoil works by preventing cold air from the fridges from spilling out into the aisle by steering it directly back into the fridge unit.
Sainsbury’s says the technology will save 44 million kWh of energy every year, equivalent to 320 million kettles being boiled. Plus the aisles for products such as cheese, yoghurts and meat will be up to 4C warmer for shoppers.
Sainsbury’s has been testing the aerofoil system, created by Williams Advanced Engineering, since 2015 and says it is the first supermarket to retrofit the technology “on such a large scale”.
“By keeping the air cold in our fridges using this technology, we’ll see an energy reduction of up to 15%, which, when multiplied across all our stores, is a significant amount of energy saved,” said Sainsbury’s head of sustainability Paul Crewe.
“By looking outside our industry, and borrowing technology from an industry that is renowned for its speed and efficiency, we are accelerating how we are reducing the impact on the environment while making shopping in Sainsbury’s stores a more comfortable experience.”
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