A new Sainsbury's supermarket in Gloucester/England is to generate energy for its checkout tills from each time a customer parks his or her car in the car park outside. In a European first, the company is installing "Kinetic Road Plates" in the car park for the new store at Gloucester Quays, which opens tomorrow.

Every time a vehicle passes over the plate, it is pushed down to create a "rocking" movement by the plate, which ultimately drives a turbine to generate power. Overall, the plates being installed will generate 30kW of energy, the supermarket said - more than enough electricity to power the store's checkouts. But, Sainsbury's said the system would not affect the cars or their fuel efficiencies.

Alison Austin, Sainsbury's environment manager, says: "This is revolutionary, not only are we the first to use such cutting-edge technology with our shoppers, but customers can now play a very active role in helping to make their local shop greener, without extra effort or cost."

Highway Energy Systems

The Kinetic Road Plates have been developed for Sainsbury's by Somerset-based Highway Energy Systems Ltd, a company started in 2002 by Peter Hughes. It says depending on traffic, each system can develop between 5kW and 10kW of power, and could be used to generate power for nearby street lighting.The plates are designed to be installed at points where cars are braking, such that the equipment "scavenges" power from the vehicles' kinetic (motion) energy as they slow down.

Other features at the new Sainsbury's store in Gloucester include solar thermal panels to provide all of the store's hot water during the summer. The store is also using special light tubes to cut down on the need for electric lights, and is designed to retrieve cold air from fridges to keep the checkout area cool. As with many other retailers, Sainsbury's faces new targets to reduce its carbon emissions from next year, under the government's Carbon Reduction Commitment. David Sheehan, director of store development and construction at Sainsbury's, said: "We are able to use cutting edge technology to improve our services, the store environment for both our customers and colleagues at the same time as ultimately reducing our carbon footprint across the UK."