Supermarket fridges use more than 1 per cent of Britain’s entire power supply

Open fridges in supermarkets should be banned because they waste too much energy and release “super-greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere, campaigners have said.

Analysis by experts suggests that supermarket fridges use more than 1 per cent of Britain’s entire power supply each year, and a significant proportion of that could be saved if they had doors.

A 30,000sq ft supermarket consumes about 1.5 million kWh of energy a year, the equivalent of boiling a kettle 15 million times, according to Businesswaste.co.uk, a waste consultancy. There are about 6,000 supermarkets in the UK and an additional 50,000 convenience stores in Britain, most of which have open fridges.

Open fridges are preferred by retailers for their ease of use and for encouraging impulse buys. However, they are