Coles has significantly reduced energy usage and costs through improvements in lighting and refrigeration.

• Fluorescent tubes have been replaced with the new generation triphosphor lamps, that have twice the life, 15 per cent more light, and contain 70 per cent less mercury than standard tubes.
• During the 90s Coles lighting engineers designed and developed new grocery aisle lighting. Power usage has been cut by more than 50 per cent through better design. A recent development offering a further 50 per cent reduction in operating and maintenance costs was trialed in two stores and is now being rolled out into all new stores and major refurbishments.

• Coles supports the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants.
• More than 350 stores now have CFC free refrigerants.
• All new stores and major refurbishments use chlorine free (HFC) refrigerants.
• There is an ongoing program to progressively remove any remaining CFCs.
• For over a decade Coles has installed the latest energy saving microprocessor controllers to operate in-store refrigeration.
• Waste heat is reclaimed from the refrigeration plant and recycled for hot water and store comfort heating.
• Show cases are manufactured from CFC free foam insulation.
• Coles are currently trialing a new technology to reduce refrigeration energy consumption by 20 per cent.