ASDA fridges go green.Today supermarket giant ASDA ASDA American Student Dental Association ASDA Australian Sports Drug Agency ASDA American Sleep Disorders Association ASDA American Stamp Dealers Association ASDA Australian Screen Directors' Association ASDA Accelerate-Stop Distance Available announced plans to replace its traditional diesel-fuelled fridges in its transport fleet with an emission free, silent-running alternative reducing carbon and eliminating noise pollution from deliveries made to stores. The aptly titled ecoFridge, which is being trialled in seven articulated vehicles at ASDA's Skelmersdale depot, will reduce the overall amount of carbon emitted by its fleet transport by around 860 tonnes, putting the supermarket on course to hit their commitment in reducing tile amount of carbon produced by 80,000 tonnes by the end of 2008. If the trial study is successful, the ecoFridge, which runs off liquid nitrogen Noun 1. liquid nitrogen - nitrogen in a liquid state atomic number 7, N, nitrogen - a common nonmetallic element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless inert diatomic gas; constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume; a constituent of all living rather than diesel, may be rolled out to its entire fleet of temperature controlled distribution trailers. By switching all of its fleet transport to nitrogen powered refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. , ASDA estimates it could reduce overall carbon emissions by 70,000 tonnes in the next five years. The ecoFridge, designed by Ukram Industries, works by using emission free, liquid nitrogen as the accelerant ac·cel·er·ant n. Accelerator. in the cooling process. In comparison, traditional diesel-fuelled fridges emit high levels of carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. and hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs), both renowned for their contribution to global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. and depletion of the ozone layer ozone layer or ozonosphere, region of the stratosphere containing relatively high concentrations of ozone, located at altitudes of 12–30 mi (19–48 km) above the earth's surface. . Not only will ecoFridge eliminate carbon emission--calculated by the Department of Transport to be 2.6304 kgs per litre of diesel burned--but, owing to owing to prep. Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness. owing to prep → debido a, por causa de its engineering simplicity, maintenance costs are reduced by at least 65 percent. Chris Hall, ASDA's network transport manager, said: "This is a major step towards ensuring that our fleet transport reduces costs, cuts carbon emissions and lowers the overall environmental impact of food distribution. It also solves the problem of delivering chilled goods to our stores in residential areas--especially at night, due to the silent running nature of the technology." The ecoFridge scheme is the latest in a long line of on-going initiatives introduced by ASDA to minimise carbon emissions. Last year all 1,000 lorries used in ASDA's fleet distribution were converted to run on a bio-diesel mix reducing carbon tail-pipe emissions by 3 percent. The supermarket chain has also sought planning permission to install five two mega watt wind turbines and aim to have all fully operational by the end of next year. Contact ecoFridge on 01326 560404 or visit www.ecofridge.info |
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