Residual energy use and energy efficiency improvement of European supermarket facilities during the post-COVID and energy crisis period

Supermarkets are significant consumers of electricity and contribute to the generation of associated pollutant emissions. This will help to mitigate the impact of increased energy costs on the prices of products sold in supermarkets. Therefore, it is essential to reduce energy consumption, starting with the equipment that consumes the most electricity, such as refrigeration, and using the residual thermal energy generated in supermarkets. This paper discusses the impact of rising energy costs in the post-Covid era and during the energy crisis. It evaluates the environmental and energy benefits of implementing energy improvements and utilizing residual energy in real supermarkets. The analysis takes into account the socio-economic characteristics of the EU-27 countries, which affect the economic feasibility of these measures. This would prevent the release of 122 tons of CO₂ per year for each supermarket, resulting in energy savings of around 70 % or 305 kWh/m². The required investments would have a payback period of 4 years.