Tesco wants to erect a ten-metre high wind turbine to power the check-outs at its biggest Edinburgh store. The turbine will be installed in the parking lot, subject to winning the backing of city planners, The Scotsman reports.

It would be the first Tesco store to be part of a national drive to cut the supermarket chain’s in-store energy consumption in half within three years.

It follows a similar plan in Wick, Caithness, where solar panels and five wind turbines were built on the roof of a new store to provide a tenth of its electricity needs.

Tesco recently released its 2007 corporate responsibility report. The company received criticism recently when it was discovered that it sends CDs and DVDs to Switzerland and back, almost 1,400 extra miles, in order to exploit a tax loophole that saves UK customers as little as £1.56 on a DVD.