Makro South Africa awarded for excellence in energy efficiency initiatives

FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

Issued on behalf of Massmart - Dec 9th, 13:31

This week, Makro SA scooped a prestigious eta award for its energy efficient new generation stores at Eskom’s 24th eta Awards ceremony.  

Eskom has for the past 23 years rewarded excellence in the field of energy efficiency. The purpose of the awards is to acknowledge exceptional effort in the more efficient use of energy by individuals, students, companies or other institutions.

The independent judges lauded Makro in the commercial category for its sound energy efficiency principles.

Since 2010 Makro has been greening its stores with the aim of saving energy, reducing running costs, improving the in-store environment and customer shopping experience.

The group has implemented a variety of energy management systems and technologies in their stores including a campaign to “switch the lights off”. It has installed lighting controllers, energy efficient lighting, heat reclaim facilities, thermal storage systems, condensate water harvesting, as well as independent electricity check meters, and as a result it has been able to decrease its demand by as much as 36%, and achieve energy savings of 219 000kWh’s.

Makro focused on saving energy in five key areas in its stores: lighting, refrigeration, air conditioning, building envelope and domestic heating.

Makro SA’s Store Development Manager, Alan Walker, says:

“As a result we have used LED lighting and daylight harvesting cells to significantly reduce energy consumption in our stores. We also make use of energy efficient refrigeration plants with the latest energy saving features, automated night blinds, high speed doors and better insulation to reduce temperature loss.” The refrigeration gasses used are of the “natural refrigerant” type, which is non-ozone depleting, and has a Global Warming Potential rating of one.”

Last month Massmart was recognised for best practise in the environmental category as part of the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index, a key benchmark for broad-based environmental, social, governance and climate change practice amongst listed companies.