The international retailer Carrefour has has opened an energy saving store in Guanggu, Wuhan, making it Carrefour's first energy saving store in China.

Sixteen energy saving measures, which are mainly related to lighting, air-conditioner use and heat recycling, will be used in this store. At the same time, some advanced facilities have also been introduced by Carrefour from Malaysia. Compared with an ordinary store, the Guanggu store will be able to save 20% of its energy costs with the help of those facilities.

It is estimated that in a Carrefour store with 8,500 square meters of supermarket space and 4,000 square meters of shopping center area, 1,200,000 kilowatts of electrical energy and 50,000 cubic meters of water can be saved.

Carrefour says although it costs more than RMB2 million to open an energy saving store, the expenses for maintaining that store will be decreased over time and the rate of return is also good. In 2008, the company will begin transferring all of its stores in China into energy saving stores.