According to FoodeNavigator, the industrial firm Danfoss has recently opened a "Smart Store" in Denmark, where modern heating and cooling solutions are employed in the hope of demonstrating to food retailers the "journey towards a zero-emission supermarket."

3% More Efficient

The flagship store, a 1,500-square-meter space leased to the discount retailer COOP 365 and built near Danfoss's headquarters in Nordborg, uses sustainable energy sources and reuses excess heat generated by refrigeration units to reduce heating costs by up to 90%.

Danfoss claims that the flagship store, which opened to the public on June 29, is expected to be about 50% more energy-efficient compared to a regular supermarket with a first-generation CO2 refrigeration system and without energy-efficient solutions. It is also expected to be about 20-30% more efficient than an equivalent local store already equipped with multiple energy-efficient solutions.

The use of advanced heating and cooling technology also makes good business sense, according to the company. These savings come with a typical payback time of under three years, they say.

The store functions both as a functional supermarket and as a development center for testing new technologies. Danfoss hopes it will "inspire food retailers in a world of rising energy costs, emissions, and worsening food losses."

A Supermarket for High Efficiency

"This supermarket is specially built for the world that awaits us, a world with more urbanization, larger populations, higher energy demands, an increasing need for cooling, and efficient food storage," said Jürgen Fischer, President of Danfoss Climate Solutions.

"Danfoss has reimagined what grocery stores could look like in the 21st century," he said. "For the first time, all the latest Danfoss technology and energy-efficient grocery retail solutions are brought together in one retail site.

But the new Smart Store is just the beginning. Because it will also serve as an Application Development Center, a 'live' testing site for new technologies that we hope will inspire food retailers worldwide to move towards zero-emission supermarkets - all while making economic sense."

Efficiency Solutions Used

Supermarkets are significant energy consumers. Supermarkets in industrialized countries consume about 3% of a country's electricity production.

Therefore, there is potential for significant savings in the energy field for food retailers, with relatively low investments and good payback times, according to Danfoss.

The supermarket will use solar energy as the primary energy source, with 100 kW solar panels on the building's roof providing green energy to support the supermarket's operations.

Capturing and reusing heat are also key to the energy efficiency of supermarkets. Excess heat is the largest untapped energy source in the world.

The store is equipped with state-of-the-art heat recovery units designed to recover residual heat from all refrigeration systems, as refrigeration systems represent by far the largest share of energy consumed in supermarkets.

The recovered heat is reused to heat the storage area and produce hot water, with any additional heat shared with the surrounding city residents through a rational energy network. Danfoss expects a reduction of up to 90% in supermarket heating costs.

"In Germany, there are about 30,000 supermarkets that have low-temperature cooling from minus 18 to minus 24 degrees Celsius," Fischer revealed. "If you use that as energy storage, it equals 10 nuclear power plants."

Leak Elimination

Other initiatives, such as installing doors on refrigerator and freezer cases, will save approximately one-third of energy consumption, while choosing LED lighting uses up to 85% less electricity than incandescent bulbs. Automation and monitoring of the "Smart Store" add another level of energy savings.

Danfoss argued that there is a 3% energy leakage rate in Europe, which is significantly higher in the developing world. Smart control of the refrigerated case, they say, saves 8-12% of energy consumption at the system level.

To optimize refrigeration efficiency, it is important to match capacity with demand, Danfoss emphasized. Too much cooling wastes energy and risks system damage; too little risks food spoilage.

Adjusting energy consumption can further allow supermarkets to benefit from cheaper tariffs. The supermarket's refrigeration system, Danfoss explained, is used as a thermal battery, storing or borrowing cooling capacity in the store's freezers while energy is cheap or solar electricity is abundant, then temporarily shutting off compressors during peak cost hours. energy has passed.

Energy-Saving Methods

The issue of refrigeration, energy, and the environment is timely. Unilever, for example, is looking to "warm up" ice cream freezers to help combat emissions. The downside of this plan is that products will need to withstand higher storage temperatures.

Danfoss said the "Smart Store" products will not need reformulation. "There's no reason why you shouldn't have more temperatures in a supermarket organized in a good way, with good technology and digital systems in their place," Fischer said.

Reducing Food Losses

However, the company believes timely responses to issues in refrigeration units are crucial for preventing food losses. The resources required to produce lost or wasted food have a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tons of CO2, it claims.

Therefore, the company uses solutions at various stages of the value chain to address the issue. In India, for example, solar-powered refrigeration units installed in the field can ensure that products last up to three days longer and do not spoil before reaching the market.

Its solutions also promise to control temperature during transport to food retailers. Once in the "Smart Store," in the meantime, it has installed real-time digital monitoring technology of refrigeration systems and individual products, which will alert store managers to issues before they arise.

For example, if a supermarket freezer were to fail overnight, then it is likely that the entire line of frozen foods stored in that freezer would be eliminated as food loss.

"Preventing food loss on such a scale is essential for preventing revenue loss and reducing emissions," Danfoss said. "As soon as there's something wrong with the temperature, an alarm will go off, and we can fix it remotely," Fischer explained.

Business Model

But this type of technology can be challenging and costly for food retailers. Therefore, Danfoss intends to expand its energy-saving supermarket vision through a service model. "In practice, we manage the entire building, including the energy system," Fischer explained.

"The supermarket can fully focus on selling food. We promise to reduce energy to a lower level than in other supermarkets, and we promise a yearly CO2 reduction as a percentage." Danfoss is targeting partners in the Nordic countries and Germany first, to be followed by a European and global push.

"Supermarkets will pay a fixed fee just like when renting an apartment with heating. In this case, it includes lighting, heating, and we also own and take care of the equipment."

Danfoss also provides 24/7 technical support, especially remotely, crucial amid a shortage of qualified heating engineers and a significant skills gap in green energy in Europe.

Danfoss said the fixed fee for supermarkets "will not be higher or lower" than the rents already paid by supermarkets. But the "Smart Store" building cost over £10 billion ($11.6 billion), about three times more than the cost of standard stores without eco-technology.