Carrefour Belgium has achieved a significant milestone, with 77% of its owned stores and 30% of its franchised sites now using CO2 (R744)-based refrigeration, according to Jan Geeraerts, the retailer’s Head of Engineering.
The supermarket chain, which consists of 318 convenience stores, 349 supermarkets and 40 hypermarkets, aims to upgrade all of its owned stores to CO2 by 2030.
Geeraerts shared details of Carrefour Belgium’s refrigerant transition in his presentation during the end users panel at the ATMOsphere (ATMO) Europe Summit 2024, which was held in Prague, Czech Republic, November 25 and 26.
ATMO Europe is hosted by ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
50% energy savings
Carrefour Belgium began installing CO2-R134a hybrid systems in stores in 2012. However, after a strategic review in 2015, the retailer decided to fully commit to CO2-only rack systems, Geeraerts explained. This policy was extended to its franchise network in 2020.
In 2023, a centralized CO2 rack from German manufacturer TEKO was installed at Carrefour Belgium’s new store in Beringen alongside Green Wave CO2 refrigerated display cases from Lithuanian manufacturer Freor.
To further enhance energy efficiency, Carrefour Belgium started installing doors on all CO2-based refrigeration cabinets in 2022.
According to Geeraerts, this decision, combined with the adoption of CO2, has cut stores’ refrigeration-related energy consumption by 50%, compared to previous R404A technologies.
“Adding cabinet doors was a no-brainer,” he said. “The return on investment is around eight months.”
The chain’s efforts over the last decade has seen energy use – both gas and electricity – decline by 31% compared to 2015. With upfront costs for CO2 and R404A systems being comparable, the retailer has prioritized reducing operational costs, he added.
“Adding cabinet doors was a no-brainer. The return on investment is around eight months.”
Jan Geeraerts, Head of Engineering at Carrefour Belgium
Exploring additional energy savings
The retailer is now looking into additional energy-saving strategies, including artificial intelligence for load shifting and propane (R290) heat pumps for more efficient heating and cooling.
“If these initiatives show a good return on investment, we will implement them across the chain next year,” Geeraerts said. “A good ROI is three years or less. If it is more than three years, we will not do it.”
Addressing challenges in convenience stores
During his presentation, emphasized the unique challenges faced by many convenience stores.
“We’re facing a lot of issues around noise pollution and footprint in convenience stores due to their urban locations,” he said. “We need solutions tailored to this sector.”
Earlier this year, Japanese OEM Panasonic told NaturalRefrigerants.com it was seeing an increased demand for its CO2 outdoor condensing units, which offer a flexible, cost-effective and energy-efficient alternative to traditional CO2 rack systems, particularly in smaller format stores.
“We’re facing a lot of issues around noise pollution and footprint in convenience stores due to their urban locations. We need solutions tailored to this sector.”
Jan Geeraerts, Head of Engineering at Carrefour Belgium
Geeraerts also highlighted the importance of circularity as the chain’s first CO2 installations near the end of their lifecycles.
“We need to develop future-proof business models,” he said.
