空调让英国超市碳排放居第三

大家都对食物的碳排放量有所耳闻，但听说超市里冷却食物的空调的碳排放量吗？在流行低碳的今天，英国超市因使用含氢氟碳化物（HFC）的空调碳排放量居高不下，成为众矢之的。

The Environmental Investigation Agency or EIA has been analyzing the impact of supermarket cooling on global warming for the past two years. They have found that a strong, manmade greenhouse gas is being used as standard in UK supermarket refrigeration.

The EIA says the leakage of hydro fluorocarbon gases, or HFCs, accounts for a third of the UK supermarket carbon footprint, the equivalent to the production of five billion plastic carrier bags.

Hydro fluorocarbons were the gases brought in to replace CFCs - the ozone-destroying gases of the 1990s. Campaign manager at the EIA, Fionnuala Walravens, says these new gas emissions are just as damaging to the atmosphere.

"They're greenhouse gases and they're often 4000 times worse than carbon dioxide, you know, supermarkets don't have to pay for those emissions at the moment and it's something that not many people realize, and we've got alternatives which don't have these climate change impacts ready to go."

EIA is reproaching the British government of "inexcusable inaction" for not implementing guidelines or incentives to reduce the use of HFCs.

The EIA has compiled a table ranking major supermarket retailers in the UK from best to worst in terms of environmentally friendly refrigeration. It puts Waitrose at the top, praising it for its commitment to roll out HFC-free refrigeration.

Waitrose is using the same basic technology as a domestic fridge, based on the safe use of propane, a flammable gas that is cost neutral and wholly natural. Waitrose development manager Nigel Keen says it is the way forward.

"Eventually people will legislate against HFC, it's a damaging gas. Whether the government will get there this term, whether it will get there next term, who knows."

Fionnuala Walravens says the UK should lead by example, and inspire other countries to look into their HFC emissions.

"What we're seeing in supermarkets in the UK are actually a few steps ahead of their competitors in Europe and across the world. So if we can get a law in and get this technology pushed out widely in the UK then they may set the standard for the rest of the world."