Open shop fridges use 1pc of total electricity

MPS urged to make retailers use doors on refrigerators blamed for wasting vast amounts of energy

Supermarket fridge doors should be kept closed, campaigners have said, after it was revealed the appliances are responsible for as much as 1 per cent of Britain’s electricity usage. The refrigerators are usually left open so customers can take chilled products as they browse the aisles. A study done with the support of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found “retail food outlets are responsible for around 3 per cent of total electrical energy consumption”.

SUPERMARKET fridge doors should be kept closed, campaigners have said, after it was revealed that the appliances are responsible for as much as 1 per cent of Britain’s electricity usage.

The refrigerators are usually left open so that customers can take chilled products as they browse the aisles. Campaigners said that keeping fridges readily accessible wasted vast amounts of energy.

A study carried out with the support of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that “retail food outlets are responsible for around 3 per cent of total electrical energy consumption”. It added that refrigeration systems account for between 30 per cent and 60 per cent of energy used by supermarkets.

Mary Creagh, chairman of the environmental audit committee, said: “It’s a terrible waste of money and some stores have introduced closing doors.

“However, there is the same problem with the high street when doors are left open in the middle of winter and the [heating] escapes.

“From next April all companies of a certain size have to declare their greenhouse gas footprint, so this should spur them into measuring their gas bills and working out ways to reduce them.”

A Friends of the Earth spokesman added: “With the world in the midst of a climate emergency, our shops and stores should make it a top priority to save energy and slash the emissions that are roasting the planet.

“Supermarkets must ensure that their fridges and appliances operate to the highest energy efficient standards – and if they won’t, the Government should make them.” Many retailers have fitted open fridges with energysaving technology, but environmentalists say supermarkets could cut energy use by a quarter if doors were installed.

More than 25,000 people have signed a Parliament petition urging MPS to force supermarkets to use fridge doors. The petition states: “Climate change threatens our planet. If all supermarkets had doors on their fridges and freezers, it would save energy the equivalent of the entire residential population of Poland.”

The campaign was started by Jonathan and Gem Golding, a brother and sister from Brighton. Ms Golding said on Facebook: “Aside from the cost wasted in energy bills, the emissions this could save us is monumental. Putting doors on fridge/freezers could cut electricity usage by up to 40 per cent.

“In France, supermarkets have signed up to a voluntary agreement to put doors on three quarters of their 450 miles of fridge aisles by 2020. So why is no one else taking action?”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Minimum energy performance standards are technology neutral so do not prescribe that manufacturers should increase efficiency by putting doors on appliances.

“Rather they set a minimum energy efficiency limit that all manufacturers placing products on the market must meet. The legislation therefore leaves it up to the manufacturer as to how they meet the requirements, which could include but is not restricted to putting doors on fridges.”