The UK’s most first ever eco-friendly supermarket is set to open today in Liverpool, creating 350 jobs in the process.
The Asda ‘eco superstore’ on Strand Road in Bootle has been designed to save hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours (kwhrs) by using common green fuels and materials.
It has been built using recycled or renewable sources, such as locally reclaimed brick from the Liverpool docks and sustainable wood, and features doors on every freezer, fridge and chill cabinet.
The store also has geothermal pumps to bring up hot water from underground aquifers, a wood pellet-burning boiler to help to heat the store and a Sedum grass roof over the warehouse, which is designed to act as a haven for insects and wildlife, as well as providing better insulation.
Asda says the new £27 million superstore is 40 per cent more energy-efficient than its standard stores .
Bob Simpson, Asda’s head of store design, said: “What is pioneering here is how we’ve put all the technologies together and, more importantly, made them work .”
“It’s all simple existing technology but when combined will cut the carbon dioxide use by up 50 per cent or more.”
However, environmentalists have criticised the move, branding the very notion of an ‘eco superstore’ a contradiction.
Helen Rimmer, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: “While green technology can improve the environmental footprint of a building, this is a small part of a supermarket’s impact, which includes emissions from food freight and customer travel to stores .”
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