Supermarkets face many challenges when it comes to improving their sustainability. While new buildings can be made greener by including low-carbon, energy-saving features and renewable energy systems, retrofitting an existing supermarket for energy efficiency can be difficult.
Despite the challenges, some notable steps are already taking place to improve the sustainability of supermarkets. For example, some supermarket chains are adopting the use of renewable energy in-store to lower the carbon footprint, while others are optimising fixtures, such as lighting or food storage, to help significantly reduce energy consumption. In addition, emerging solutions that make use of advanced technologies such as generative AI are promising to take supermarket energy efficiency to the next level.
By the end of 2025, the UK is expected to have 32,146 supermarket businesses nationwide. Consuming around 700-1000 kWh per square meter annually, they are among the highest energy-intensive commercial buildings due to refrigeration, lighting, and HVAC demands. In contrast to energy intensive processes in other commercial buildings, which might be timed to run in periods of greater renewable power generation to limit environmental impact, supermarkets require high consumption refrigeration systems to be running at all times to prevent food products spoiling. So, what can supermarkets do to become more sustainable and energy efficient?
One way that stores have traditionally reduced energy consumption is through lighting. Traditional fluorescent tube lighting accounts for between 15% and 25% of the electricity consumed in a supermarket, so installing motion sensor LED lighting can significantly reduce demand for electricity and lower electricity bills.
However, technological advances are paving the way for significant energy efficiency gains in refrigeration, which accounts for the lion’s share of supermarket electricity usage. Innovators have been developing novel, more energy efficient, refrigerants, including transcritical CO2. As well as being non-toxic and non-flammable, CO₂ is readily available and easy to source. Refrigeration systems that compress CO2 to high pressures, and use this as a medium to extract heat, are highly efficient. Within this space innovators are continuing to protect improvements and refinements to transcritical CO2 technology, for example Energy Recovery Inc’s international patent application [WO2024118527A1] details improvements in transcritical pressure exchangers for use in heat exchangers and other technologies, while Bitzer Kuehlmaschinenbau GmbH describe techniques to make transcritical compressor units lighter in their US patent application [US2025052455A1]. This technology is enabling transcritical CO₂ systems to operate at even higher efficiencies and take on reduced size/weight form factors, making them an even more attractive prospect for lower energy consumption, and reduced carbon footprint in the supermarket sector.
In addition to improving the efficiency with which cold air is generated for refrigeration, energy usage can be further reduced by retrofitting advanced doors to fridge units to reduce loss of that cold air. This relatively straightforward and low-cost intervention can bring significant efficiency gains. Advances continue to be made and protected in this area, for example Cisaplast SPA’s European patent [EP3956537B1] describes hinges that prevent swing doors damaging refrigerated cabinets. By improving how doors open, close, and seal – minimising unnecessary or prolonged openings – the amount of cold air lost from refrigerated units can be reduced.
Increasingly, AI and data analysis are also playing a significant role in reducing energy consumption for supermarkets. Tesco’s joint project with Star Refrigeration, Ethos, is trialling a data-driven optimisation system that uses AI to monitor and analyse refrigeration equipment at its distribution centres in order to identify and address operational inefficiencies. A 10% average energy saving, and a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions has been achieved across eight sites, demonstrating the potential for driving energy efficiency across the cold chain.
Growing interest in energy efficiency in the supermarket sector, and more widely, makes it especially important that innovators look to capitalise on their R&D investment by establishing a strong IP portfolio. Seeking early advice about patentability can help them to protect their inventions, secure the investment needed to develop their technologies, prepare them for market entry, and ultimately ensure market share for their innovative technology.
Supermarkets face tough challenges in the race to net zero, but there are also some big opportunities. From small-scale switches such as LED lighting and fridge door replacements, to transformative improvements in refrigeration technology and AI-powered innovation, it is possible to cut costs, lower emissions, and improve operational efficiency. The businesses that succeed will be those that embrace emerging technologies early, and for innovators in this space, securing strong IP protection is essential to ensure that their ideas play a role in shaping the supermarkets of the future.
Article by Andrew Hey, a senior associate and patent attorney specialising in the cleantech sector at European IP firm, Withers & Rogers.
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