EU project SuperSmart comes to a close: What have we learnt?

The project sought to illustrate the environmental benefits of fast implementation of efficient heating and cooling solutions, as well as the significant positive economic impact of reduced energy use in the supermarket sector across Europe.

As such, SuperSmart aimed to decrease energy consumption in supermarkets (mainly in terms of heating and cooling), which accounts for almost 4% of the entire power consumption in Europe.

The project outcomes and achievements

The SuperSmart project created, what could be described, as an expertise hub to facilitate the market uptake of energy efficient supermarkets by raising awareness, enabling knowledge transfer and overseeing the preparation of an EU Ecolabel.

Coordinated by the Norway-based research institute SINTEF, the project consortium was comprised of nine partners from eight European countries, and carried out research on how energy consumption could be curbed with better practices through education and information, or by changing the way in which energy resources are used.

During its 3-year lifespan, SuperSmart produced a number of training materials, provided 40 training courses, was present at over 70 events across Europe, including at the IIR Gustav Lorentzen conference in 2018, and drafted various technical reports on how to build, refurbish and manage an eco-friendly supermarket. Its final report also outlined the criteria for the proposed EU Ecolabel for food retail.

The reports produced by the SuperSmart project that are FREE to download include:

• Mapping and segmentation of barriers and description of supermarket sector
• How to build a new eco-friendly supermarket
• Computational tools for supermarket planning
• Proposal for the Development of the EU Ecolabel Criteria for Food Retail Stores

Download all of the reports at www.supersmart-supermarket.info/downloads.

A number of training materials produced by the SuperSmart project are FREE to download and include:

• Eco-friendly Supermarkets - an Overview

• How to build a new Eco-friendly Supermarket

• Eco Friendly Operation and Maintenance of Supermarkets

• EU Ecolabel for Food retail stores

The IIR supports promotion of knowledge in refrigeration

With the objective of promoting knowledge of refrigeration technologies and applications worldwide, the IIR’s principal role as a partner of the SuperSmart project was to disseminate its research outcomes.

Thanks to its international network connecting research and industry, and by way of its publications, conferences, workshops and various other channels of communication, the IIR was able to bolster the outreach of the SuperSmart project to decision makers, technicians, engineers and researchers.

The IIR’s involvement in actions on the communication and dissemination of the project included: 

• contribution to training materials and providing training
  

• dissemination across the IIR network, and beyond, and distribution of communication supports

• organisation of SuperSmart workshops at IIR conferences and events.

For more on the SuperSmart project visit www.supersmart-supermarket.info

The SuperSmart consortium was composed of the following partners: SINTEF (Norway), UBA (Germany), shecco (Belgium), CIRCE (Spain), KTH (Sweden), International Institute of Refrigeration (France), ITC-CNR (Italy), Technical University Braunschweig (Germany) and Energija (North Macedonia).

Do you require a dissemination partner for your refrigeration research project?

Contact Ina Colombo (IIR Deputy Director General) at i.colombo@iifiir.org.