Eurospar operator Furey Smyth Group invests €2m in green overhaul of Irish stores
Eurospar operator Furey Smyth Group has completed a €2 million investment to cut carbon emissions from its network of stores in Ireland.
The Kildare-based retail group, which operates a chain of Eurospar stores across counties Dublin, Clare, Kilkenny, Kildare and Westmeath, said it had spent €400,000 installing solar panels at all feasible locations across its chain of eight stores.
The company has also invested a further €1.4 million to replace more than 100 refrigeration units with new, ultra-energy efficient fridges. The fluorinated gases used in fridges are powerful greenhouse gases with a higher warming potential than carbon dioxide.
Furey Smyth Group says its investment has cut the company’s energy usage by 40% and this will cut its annual energy consumption by more than 1.1 million kilowatt hours. The investment will also cut its carbon footprint by 350,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year.
Director Chris Furey said the investment represents the single largest sustainability programme by an independent retail group in Ireland.
“It follows other initiatives across the business, including the rollout of energy efficient lighting in all our stores and an infrastructure optimisation initiative aimed at identifying other energy efficiency opportunities,” he said.
“Ultimately, we are working towards carbon neutrality and are targeting being off-grid in the summertime in the near-term.
“Newer technologies are currently being developed and tested which will facilitate complex carbon neutrality in the future and we endeavour to embrace these solutions as they become available.”
Furey Smyth Group carried out the €2 million investment programme over 10 weeks to minimise the impact on trade. It estimates it will take six to seven years to achieve a return on investment through energy savings.
The company said the investment was completed with the help of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and wholesale group BWG Foods.
