A "PassiveHouse" Supermarket

A new Bio-Planet (Colruyt Group) supermarket has opened in Leuven (Belgium) today. It is the first low-energy store in Belgium.

The building has been designed in such a way that a minimum of energy is required to heat and cool it.

The outer wall is composed of a wooden skeleton with two thick layers of insulation, both inside and outside . The heating system consists of two small condensing boilers. Each of them heats the equivalent of a small family house. Both boilers together are heating now a retail space of 800 m2.

Other features are solar cell panels on the roof, a green insulating roof, gps steered mirors to capt daylight into the store, adjustable lighting intensity system, natural cooling as a result of the smart implantation of the building.

Investments costs are comparable to a traditional store, energy cost savings are expected to be in the order of 80%.

Source: BIO-Planet

French Self-Serve Wine Tanks

Astrid Terzian introduced this concept that hearkens back to a bygone era when wine would arrive in Paris shops in tonneaux and consumers would bring their own flagons to fill. But today, Terzian says, she started this scheme in fall 2008 to fill a niche, tapping into two key themes, environmental awareness and the economy. The elimination of packaging mass means that the wine can be shipped much more efficiently from a cost and carbon perspective.

The cost-savings are passed on to the consumer in the form of low prices of 1.45 euros/liter. She installed her first machine in June 2009 at the Cora supermarket in Dunkerque and now has them installed in eight supermarkets in France.

Source: LSA

Trompe-l'œil

A pinch of luxury wouldn't hurt your shop, but its cost would be a more painful case. You think so? Sometimes it just takes a creative dab of paint to turn your humble store into a wonderland. Marble details, antique finishes, whimsical graphics or exotic sceneries - no dream is too wild. Don't just paint your shop, shape it!