Amazon has added a couple of new features into its Amazon Fresh grocery store branch in Seattle. The upgrade is the e-commerce giant's bid to secure a net-zero carbon certification from the International Living Future Institute or ILFI.
Amazon Fresh in Seattle Gets an Upgrade
According to Engadget, one of the first upgrades that shoppers will notice when they visit the grocery store is the free electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lots.
Inside the grocery stores, the changes are a lot more subtle. The store now uses CO2-based refrigerators instead of traditional refrigerators, which Amazon said can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 38 metric tons every year.
The grocery store floor looks like the standard concrete floor, but it is made of recycled materials from the steel industry.
Amazon said that doing this can help reduce the store's carbon footprint more than any other initiative and lower the carbon linked with floor manufacturing and installation by 40% compared to standard concrete.
In the store's kitchen area, all of the appliances are electrified. The store has electric water heaters, electric ovens, and electric burners.
The store is also fully powered by renewable energy from Amazon's projects as part of its efforts towards switching to renewable sources of electricity by 2025.
Amazon expects the changes and measures to save them 185 tons of carbon dioxide or CO2e equivalent each year. That can be compared to driving around the planet 18 times in a standard passenger vehicle.
More Upgraded Amazon Fresh Stores
The e-commerce giant will be measuring the real-time impact of the changes and features via a system built by Amazon Web Services, according to Geek Wire.
The company also plans to apply what it learns from this project to future locations and buildings so that the public can expect more net-zero carbon Amazon Fresh groceries in the future.
The vice president of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon, Kara Hurst, said that to deliver on several communities The Climate Pledge, they are working with all business areas to develop solutions to decarbonize.
Hurst said that the process is meaningful because their latest Amazon Fresh Store seeks net-zero carbon certification. They are proud of the store's innovation and technology to employees and customers, and the environment.
Amazon's Climate Pledge initiative aims to remove the company's carbon emissions by 2040, and that is one of the avenues that it is exploring to achieve its goal, according to the Seattle Times.
In 2020, the e-commerce giant also committed $2 billion to companies developing clean energy technology as part of the initiative, including firms developing electric vehicle charging solutions and alternative fuel.
The ILFI will be reviewing Amazon Fresh grocery's performance data for 12 months to make sure that the store meets its standards.
If the location passes the requirements, it will be the first grocery store to achieve net-zero carbon certification for this type of organization. This will help Amazon create more grocery stores with sustainable energy.
Amazon is turning its focus on its grocery stores. In 2021, Amazon Fresh got the "Just Walk Out" technology.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced it would close 68 physical stores.
Related Article: Amazon to Open a New Grocery Store with Smart Carts, Alexa Assistant
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Written by Sophie Webster
