Name: Alex Kuzma
Organisation: Woolworths
Position: Engineering Manager for Woolworths Real Estate Development

What is the biggest consumer of energy in retail/food stores?

The biggest consumer in a supermarket is the refrigeration system. Supermarkets carry a large percentage of perishable stock which needs to be kept refrigerated 24 hours a day, hence the large electricity requirement for this.
 
What is the new refrigeration system being trialled by Woolworths?

Basically, we employ a sophisticated control system which monitors both the refrigeration capacity required to achieve the desired product temperature as well as all the external variables that impact on the system. The entire refrigeration system is continuously being fine tuned to ensure that only the necessary amount of refrigeration is being delivered in order to achieve the required temperature.
 
Is the new technology cost-effective that other retailers may use it in the future?

The new technology is slightly more expensive but this additional cost can be offset by omitting other components that are no longer required. In addition, any increases in set up cost that promote energy efficiency always come with a short pay back time. It’s life cycle costs and sustainability that are important, not just the initial capital cost. 
 
What level of energy saving could a typical store expect to make?

We have measured energy savings in kWh across two identical stores; One with the new technology and the other without it. There is about a 30% energy saving per store with the new technology.
 
What other energy-saving / green policies are Woolworths currently pursuing?

For many years Woolworths Engineering Services had been actively involved in reducing energy consumption in our stores to increase efficiencies. More recently, we realised that saving electricity was one of the most responsible actions we could undertake to reduce our impact on the environment.
We are now focusing on quite a few areas including staff awareness on energy conservation, on-line monitoring of store energy profiles, remote switching of store lighting, the conversion to energy efficient lighting and LED lighting, reducing water consumption both in stores and at supplier level and using waste refrigeration heat to warm our stores.

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