VATIS UPDATE Article

As European supermarkets become increasingly acquainted with energy-efficient refrigeration technology, simultaneous progress is being made in developing newer and simpler ways of smoothing the path for the transition to this climate-friendly new equipment. The recently launched SuperSmart project is one such initiative seeking to facilitate this adoption. SuperSmart aims to achieve both decisive environmental benefits through a fast implementation of efficient heating and cooling solutions, as well as significant economic benefits through reduced energy use in the supermarket sector all across Europe.

The three-year project seeks to remove non-technological barriers to the uptake of these solutions by helping to raise the level of expertise among technical and non-technical staff, as well as supporting the introduction of a new European Ecolabel for supermarkets by drafting possible criteria.

The project is led by leading Norwegian research institute SINTEF in coordination with eight other organisations, including shecco, the Construction Technologies Institute – National Research Council, the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), University of Braunschweig, the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE), DPTU Energija, and the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR).