How cost-efficiency and sustainability can get along in big chains ...

• Major cost-conscious supermarket chain sets sights on sustainability too
• Eco-efficient lighting, heating, ventillation, refrigeration, and more

Lidl supermarkets are known for their simplicity and emphasis on efficiency at every stage of the business, from supplier to customer. This philosophy enables the company to sell high-quality products from a limited range of exclusive own brand and well-known labels at the low prices.

One Lidl store in Průhonice, Czech Republic, is showing how sustainability can be worked into this overall approach. The store has adopted and installed a number of measures, from efficient heating to ecological refrigeration, energy efficient lighting, and clever ventilation systems, which are being benchmarked elsewhere in the chain.

The store's refigeration units use propane, which is much more environmentally friendly, and it is lit by energy efficient LEDs. A waste-recycling system and rainwater-capture technology have also been installed. And heating comes through an underfloor heat pump, and ventilation is provided by an active heat recovery system which linked to CO2 sensors in the store.

Key benefits

The whole supermarket is proof that even traditional chains or stores can be transformed into modern shopping experiences that blend cost-saving, green technologies seemlessly into the business model.