United Kingdom retailer Tesco opened its first low carbon store that will use 70 percent less energy than a similar structure built just three years earlier.

The company bills the Cheetham Hill location in Manchester, England, a blueprint for future low carbon stores that will enjoy fuel bills nearly 50 percent lower than 2006 baselines. Since 2000, Tesco has halved the amount of energy used per square foot in its U.K. stores.

The 52,000-square foot Cheetham Hill location resembles existing stores but sports a lighting system that dims individual lights automatically in response to changes in natural light. All refrigerators are cooled with carbon dioxide rather than traditional gases with high global warming potential, while checkout packing areas are made with fully recyclable plastic.

A metering system monitors energy and water consumption. The store's cogeneration system will generate its own electricity and use the resulting waste heat.

"The Cheetham Hill stores in an exciting development in Tesco's long term plans to reduce significantly the carbon footprint of its stores by 2020," said Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's executive director of corporate and legal affairs.

The company plans to halve emissions of all new and existing stores and distribution centers by 2020, as well as emissions per case of goods delivered worldwide by 2012, compared to 2006 levels.