Real-world supermarket cuts energy use by 60%

A test supermarket in Denmark is showing how much energy a store can save by combining existing technologies rather than relying on any single breakthrough. The Danfoss Smart Store in Nordborg, run as a real working Coop 365 supermarket, has cut net energy use by 60% compared to typical stores, three years after opening in 2023.

The savings come from linking several systems together: CO₂-based refrigeration (a more climate-friendly alternative to standard refrigerants), heat recovery that captures warmth from the refrigeration equipment and reuses it for heating and hot water, solar panels, and cloud-based monitoring that tracks energy use. So far the store has reused 130,000 kWh of recovered heat for its own heating and sent another 50,000 kWh to the local district heating network, with the heat-recovery equipment paying for itself in about three years. Solar panels covered 38% of the store's electricity needs in 2025, producing 100,000 kWh, a quarter of which went back to the power grid.

While this is a commercial project, not a home one, it points to a trend worth watching: heat recovery and efficient refrigeration, paired with solar and smart controls, can meaningfully cut both energy bills and emissions when the pieces work together. Homeowners won't be installing CO₂ refrigeration systems, but the same basic idea, pairing efficient heating equipment with solar power and monitoring, is increasingly available at residential scale through heat pumps and home energy management tools.