Tesco’s Thai stores to ditch R404A
27th August 2017
THAILAND: Leading Thai retailer Tesco Lotus, part of the Tesco Group, is aiming to ditch R404A refrigerant throughout its 1500 Express stores in favour of lower GWP HFO blend R448A.
As part of its global commitment to upgrade its supermarket refrigeration systems to lower-GWP refrigerants, the retailer is to convert all of its 1,500 Tesco Lotus Express stores in Thailand over the next two years to Solstice N40, Honeywell’s R448A brand refrigerant. The move is predicted to achieve energy savings of up to 10%.
A non-flammable, A1 refrigerant blend, R448A is available as a replacement for R404A and R22 in low and medium temperature refrigeration applications. It’s GWP of 1273 is far lower than that of R404A (3943). In 2016, refrigerant emissions accounted for 15% of Tesco’s total global direct carbon footprint.
The Thai government’s national Energy Efficiency Development Plan (EEDP) targets long-term (2011-2030) energy conservation, both at the national level and within specific energy-consuming sectors including the transportation, commercial and residential sectors.
“Tesco Lotus is committed to being a green retailer and achieving our sustainability goals through a number of energy-saving initiatives within our operation. We are proud to be the first retailer in Asia to switch to a more environmentally friendly refrigerant,” said Tesco Lotus property director Miroslav Friml.
“Honeywell’s Solstice N40 meets our key criteria for energy efficiency and performance. It is also an easy replacement for our current refrigerant, ensuring no disruption for the 15 million customers we serve on a weekly basis,” he added.
“Tesco Lotus is leading the way in implementing next-generation, lower-GWP refrigerant solutions in Asia Pacific,” said Anna An, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Advanced Materials, Asia Pacific. “Thailand is the first country in this region to implement Solstice N40 as a sustainable solution, representing a significant part of Honeywell’s global installations. It is very encouraging to see supermarket companies in Asia voluntarily accelerate large-scale store conversions to more environmentally preferable refrigerants.”
