Tuesday 13 April 2010

Sainsbury’s unveils sustainability blueprint

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has unveiled a five-year pact with Imperial College London's Faculty of Engineering and Grantham Institute for Climate Change to reduce its carbon footprint.

Plans are underway for how Sainsbury's stores might provide heat and recycled water to customers' homes. Other initiatives includeSmart Grid technology, which will help reduce Sainsbury's energy demand, with a possibility for taking stores completely off grid.

Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, director of the Grantham Institute, said: "This partnership will bring cutting edge research to mitigate some of the most pressing climate change issues in the consumer retail sector. I welcome the opportunity to work with Sainsbury's and look forward to the advances they can make with our input."

Professor Nilay Shah from Imperial College London said: "We plan to work on using engineering to develop new low-carbon store concepts and help ensure business is well positioned to respond to the effects of climate change."