Retail giant Coles has reduced gas leaks by 30 per cent in the last two years following the introduction of an aggressive gas containment strategy.
Coles head of maintenance, energy and sustainability, Mark McKenzie, said the strategy was introduced in the wake of the carbon tax.
Speaking at CCN Live 2014 yesterday, McKenzie outlined a range of initatives aimed at improving the efficiency of the supermarket's refrigeration systems.
In a slide showing the energy profile of a typical Coles store, 60 per cent is dedicated to refrigeration while seven per cent is attributed to air conditioning, 16 per cent to lighting and seven per cent to fans.
"The carbon tax made us step up our game," he told conference participants. McKenzie did a joint presentation with the national engineering refrigeration manager for Coles, Stuart Saville.
They were just two of a long list of speakers that participated in CCN's annual conference which was held at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.
The conference opened with a presentation by Green Building Council of Australia chief operating officer, Robin Mellon.
A popular session at the event was "Inside the Mind of a Facility Manager" which was presented by GHD principal David Chokolich. He answered a range of questions from the audience in a special Q&A after his presentation that was hosted by Seeley International executive director, Jon Seeley.
The conference ended with a panel debate on how to transition to low GWP gases. Panellists included Australian Refrigeration Association president, Tim Edwards, and Arkema business development manager, Kylie Farrelley.
Once again CCN Live was a great success thanks to sponsors Seeley International, Bitzer, Regulator Systems, AHI Carrier and ebm-papst.
A 10-page special feature with full coverage of each presentation at CCN Live 2014 will appear in the October edition of the magazine.