Sainsbury’s is set to open Europe’s first “people-powered” supermarket store today in Gloucester as part of plans to green its operations and reduce its carbon footprint.
The supermarket chain has installed new technology which captures energy from shoppers’ vehicles to power the checkouts at its new green branch.
Whenever a vehicle drives over the “kinetic road plates” embedded in the surface of the store’s car park, they are pushed down by the vehicles weight, creating rocking motions under the road surface that turn generators . The generators create energy which is captured and channelled into the store, saving power that would normally be taken from the National Grid .
The plates are expected to produce 30kW of energy an hour, which is more than enough to power the stores’ checkouts.
Sainsburys said the system, pioneered by Peter Hughes of UK-based startup Highway Energy Systems, does not affect the car or its fuel efficiency, and drivers feel no disturbance as they drive over the plates.
Alison Austin, Sainsbury’s environment manager, said: “This is revolutionary, not only are we the first to use such cutting-edge technology with our shoppers, but customers can now play a very active role in helping to make their local shop greener, without extra effort or cost.”
“We want to continue offering great value but we also want to make the weekly shop sustainable. Using amazing technology like this helps us reduce our use of carbon and makes Sainsbury’s a leading energy-efficient business.”
She added that if successful, the scheme could be expanded to other stores in the future.
The kinetic road plates are one of a number of energy-saving measures at Sainsbury’s green store, which is located in the new Gloucester Quays development.
Other environmental features of the store include a rainwater harvesting system to fill toilets, a solar thermal water heating system, efficient water usage, sun pipes in the roof to make use of natural light and automatic dimming lights.
In addition, the grocery retailer said more than 90 per cent of the construction waste was re-used or recycled .
