UK retailer Sainsbury’s opened its flagship green store in Dartmouth, Devon, this week, in a bid to reduce energy bills.
Built with consideration for the use of energy, water, waste, timber and land, the retailer said the store has been designed to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.
Various features at the new store include solar-powered fans and toilets that can be flushed using rainwater.
Sainsbury’s said it used 200 trees to build the frame of the store but that it will re-plant 400.
Neil Sachdev, commercial director, Sainsbury’s, said: “We are really proud of our new flagship environmental store in Dartmouth. We’ve been keen to experiment with a number of energy saving measures here, from sun pipes, which provide amazing natural light, to using a timber frame rather than steel, which consumes less energy in its production, but looks good too. We now want to apply all these benefits to the rest of our stores.”

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By GlobalDataSainsbury’s plans to replicate some of the sustainable features in the Dartmouth store across the UK, and said it will open a minimum of two green supermarket-sized stores every year, plus a greener Sainsbury’s Local outlets.
The retailer said it has a target to reduce CO2 emissions per square metre by 25% by 2012.