Scotland's Lewis's stores to pioneer green energy installation

Published on Thursday 4 November 2010 14:48

JOHN Lewis's three Scottish stores are to have cutting edge biomass technology installed in an attempt to slash the chain's carbon emissions by 2020.

Edinburgh's flagship shop at the St James Centre is likely to be one of the first to use the wood chip-fired combined cooling heat and power plant when it undergoes refurbishment as part of a major regeneration of the shopping mall in 2012.

The branches in Aberdeen and Glasgow are also likely to be among the 14 department stores and 115 Waitrose shops which will have the renewable technology installed over the next decade - accounting for about half its store network.

"This will allow us to cut carbon emissions by up to 60 per cent at every store where we install a plant", said Steve Isaia, head of engineering at the John Lewis Partnership. "We are reviewing all our store portfolio to see where it will be possible to install the plants, but the work which would be carried out around the Edinburgh store would be an ideal situation to create one there."

Although using modern biomass techniques, where wood chips are burned without oxygen to create a gas, the plants built across the UK will include a 200-year-old engine design created by Scots cleric the Rev Robert Stirling.

John Lewis plans to test the plant at a Waitrose store on the Isle of Wight, which opens this week. The system, which will be producing heat by early next year, will generate enough energy to meet the store's electricity and heat demand, and surplus warmth would provide all heating and hot water for homes being built nearby.

In traditional power generation, heat created from electricity production is wasted - but with a biomass combined plant, it is used to heat water, which is then used for hot water supply, or to heat buildings.

The company is under growing pressure to improve its carbon performance - rapid expansion has meant its overall emissions have risen by almost 17 per cent since 2001.

Earlier this year, chairman Charlie Mayfield said John Lewis was committed to reducing carbon while doubling in size. It expects to announce a precise reduction target early next year.

The extent of the roll-out of the technology is unprecedented in the retail sector. Tesco has a small number of the systems in its stores south of the Border, including one fuelled by vegetable oil at its first zero-carbon store in Cambridgeshire.

Dan Barlow, head of policy in Scotland for the environmental charity WWF, welcomed the news.

"Currently only a fraction of the energy used to heat our buildings is renewable and this must be addressed if we are to decarbonise our energy supply," he said. "Using timber from sustainable sources, this technology has an important role to play in cutting emissions associated with heating and cooling of our buildings"