This truck is rubbish---or rather it runs on it. Biglorryblog is proud to can reveal that Sainsbury's is the first supermarket to make its daily food deliveries to its new environmental store using a truck which is powered by fuel produced from waste. The Mercedes artic runs on methane, produced from rotting landfill rubbish in landfill, which is then captured and purified, and turned into bio-methane. According to the supermarket giant using bio-methane from landfill can save up to 60% in CO2 emissions compared with conventional diesel fuel (it's probably a darn sght cheaper too). The 6x2 Axor tractor is equipped with a Clean Air Power Dual-Fuel™ engine conversion which enables it to operate on a combination of bio-methane and diesel, with a shot of diesel acting as a 'liquid spark plug'. Now click through here for more....
The Sainsbury's artic will make a daily 500km round trip from the company's Bristol depot to its new environmental store in Dartmouth which, having been built with consideration for the use of energy, water, waste, timber and land, is aiming to be one of the first supermarkets to achieve a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating for its commitment to sustainable construction.
The pioneering store will save 40% of its overall CO2 emissions---achieved by using a 'biomass boiler' which will heat the building and water, so the amount of energy currently taken from the national grid will be slashed by 50%. It's has been designed to leak less draughts too, and has other measures like 'quiet revolution wind turbines'™ will now power the checkouts, and help cut electricity usage (kWh) by a third. Rainwater will be collected, and used to flush customer and colleague toilets, and to irrigate plants. Consequently the store will save over one million litres of mains water every year, and uses 60% less water overall. Lower lighting levels, dimmers and more natural light will also make carbon savings, and cool air will be collected from chillers to keep the store cool during warmer months. Plus all the warehouse lights turn off if no-one's there. Last but not least, as 200 trees have been used for the frame of the store, Sainsbury's has since re-planted 400 trees in the local community. The new bio-methane lorry ensures that the transportation of food matches the sustainable aims of the store. Now that is green......