Aerofoil Energy wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise
Her Majesty the Queen has today recognised Aerofoil Energy with a Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation. The award is for the company's pioneering use of shelf-edge technology to improve the energy efficiency of display refrigeration, a feature of the food retail industry that accounts for three per cent of the UK’s entire consumption of electricity.
“We are honoured to have been recognised by Her Majesty with this award for our energy-saving technology and commercial success”, said Aerofoil Energy’s CEO, Paul McAndrew. “Open-fronted supermarket fridges are a great way to display food and make it easy for customers to choose, but they are very power-hungry. Our unique innovation, the Aerofoil, has provided our clients with a straightforward solution that significantly reduces the fridge’s power consumption whilst improving the convenience and comfort of the shopping experience.”
The Aerofoil product has achieved industry-wide adoption by UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, the Co-op and M&S. Since 2016, Aerofoils have saved the sector ca. £100 million in energy costs and already avoided some 150 thousand tonnes of CO2 emissions, savings that will continue to accrue year on year. The company is now expanding internationally to deploy its Aerofoil shelf-edge technology in the world’s largest bricks-and-mortar grocery retailers in Europe, the USA and Asia.
About Aerofoil Energy and ‘Aerofoils’
Aerofoil Energy was founded in 2014 to develop a truly innovative and scalable solution to a global problem. The company’s patented wing-shaped ‘Aerofoils’ are deployed in a vertical plane on the front of each shelf of a supermarket fridge. Instead of creating lift or downforce, as they would on an airplane or racing car, they have the effect of drawing the fridge’s cold air stream back into the cabinet, thereby preventing it spilling into the shopping aisle and wasting energy. The Aerofoil blades are manufactured by local businesses in the UK from 100% recycled aluminium and are completely recyclable.
About Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. Established in 1965, the awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses that are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.