European community for mobility management

Since last summer is in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) the first public CO₂ fill station open. It is the first of eight durable filling stations planned in several cities. The stations are designed for refrigerated trucks, who are normally cooled by diesel engines; the familiar boxes on top of the cab. Spar (chain of supermarkets) is the initiator of this project together with several partners to reduce CO₂ emissions and reducing noise. Spar will have over fifty new and sustainable delivery trucks this autumn.

The cryogenic cooling system that Spar tested, uses carbon dioxide (CO₂) as refrigerant. This CO₂ is a waste product of the process industry: it is released during the production of fertilizer. The provider of CO2 collects it and cleans it, then it becomes available as a refrigerant. This refrigerant is stored in a tank under the trailer and brought into contact with the air and than evaporated into the trailer. This process has huge advantages. There is no emission of harmful substances such as particulate matter instead. There is also no noise and no toxic waste anymore such as oil, oil filters and belts. This is the case with diesel engines.

Spar Netherlands expected from early 2012 on, annualy 417 tonnes less CO₂ emissions and 160,000 liters less diesel. This provides not only an important contribution to the sustainability of distribution logistics, but the retailer will play also plays a leading role in making road transport greener.