Grocery display case specialist Carlson AirFlo’s products are designed to maximize energy efficiency for the company’s retail customers.

The company’s primary products are made from anodized aluminum, which has conductivity properties allowing products in refrigerated cases to maintain the proper temperature, said Suellen Lindsay, marketing manager.

“This allows the refrigeration cases to maximize energy efficiency. Because of thermal properties of aluminum, it reduces shrink, allowing fresh product to maintain its shelf life, reducing the need to discard at store level.”

Not all other manufacturers of display cases are as committed to anodized aluminum, which works by conducting heat away from the products and dissipating it.

That, combined with the corrosion resistance provided by anodizing, makes anodized aluminum an outstanding material for use in refrigerated cases, Lindsay said.

Anodized aluminum is also stable, which translates to nontoxic emissions and food safety. Anodizing becomes part of the molecular structure of the product, which improves durability.

“It won’t flake, rust or peel,” Lindsay said. “Because AirFlo’s aluminum products is anodized, this layer becomes part of the aluminum substrate.”

To cut energy usage and reduce CO2 emissions, cases with doors are becoming more common in grocery fresh departments.

AirFlo provides products that can be used for both open and doored cases, Lindsay said. These merchandising products help maximize the usage of space in each case, while providing an outstanding customer shopping experience.

In addition, all AirFlo’s products utilize LED lighting, which is 80% more efficient than fluorescent lighting.

Energy efficiency is not only good for the Earth, it also allows retailers to focus more on what they do best.

“When a grocery store reduces operational costs by using practices at store level that are energy efficient, it provides the grocery store the opportunity to allocate its resources to solutions that support sales growth,” Lindsay said.

This article is an excerpt from the April 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Energy feature and more in the digital edition here.