The Future of Green Retail

Now that top retailers like Wal-Mart and Starbucks embrace green practices, “green retail” is more than just a Google trending topic. In September, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) held its annual environmental sustainability conference in San Diego, where executives shared best practices in establishing environmental programs and integrating green practices into their companies. But as companies continue to go green, they must also think about how they can make green services more available to their customers.

Green retail has indeed come a long way. Back in 2005, when Wal-Mart announced its new environmental standards, critics were skeptical. Was Wal-Mart going green or just greenwashing? While the company surely realized going green meant some positive press, the environmental benefit of many of their new initiatives was legitimate. A Fast Company article in January 2010 covered 11 ways Wal-Mart was changing retail, including deploying more fuel-efficient trucks and implementing innovative recycling policies, such as sandwich bales. A closer look at Wal-Mart practices also reveals a focus on internal sustainability, i.e. how the companies themselves act sustainably. This is more or less what “green retail” has signified until now: which company has the most fuel efficient fleets or solar panels on its stores?

However, green retail is in the midst of a radical shift, redefining how retailers participate in the green economy. Retailers can now pursue internal sustainability initiatives AND bring green practices and services to the consumer. Clean energy is now for sale in aisle 4.

For example, retailers can offer clean power services in stores to change the way green energy is delivered. Solar power, traditionally complicated and expensive for homeowners, can be accessible, easy, and even mainstream in popular stores. In fact, solar power service is now available through select Home Depot stores in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. With this service, homeowners can switch to solar power for little or no cost, and simply pay monthly for the solar electricity. This can save customers up to 15 percent on their utility bills.

Are green retailers just what we need to help make solar mainstream? They are certainly an important part of the equation. In 2009, SunRun surveyed 2500 mainstream homeowners and found that while most people begin their solar research online, over a third of them wanted to make their final purchase of solar power at a retail store.

One of the major barriers to mainstream solar is lack of awareness. Most people already know solar power is available and understand the basic environmental and financial benefits. What they don’t realize is that solar can be easy and affordable. By selling affordable green power service, retailers can take advantage of high-volume foot traffic and a direct connection to consumers to educate the public and deliver clean energy in a new and exciting way. There are fewer than 100,000 solar homes in the United States and 126 million total housing units nationwide. By selling clean power where people shop every day, retailers can make a remarkable impact on the environment and the clean energy economy.

Green retail no longer means only adopting environmental practices within the company. Now it’s about helping others adopt environmental practices to grow the green movement, not to mention saving consumers money.  Courtesy of Environmental Leader



make your own solar panels



Join The Green Club





Share

Starbucks Moves Ahead with ‘Green’ Strategy despite Cost

As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) releases an energy-savings guide to help quick-service restaurants reduce their energy use by 50 percent, Starbucks continues to move ahead with plans to make the restaurant chain’s stores environmentally friendly.

Starbucks is part of a growing trend by retailers to reduce their impact on the environment despite the initial cost premium for their efforts, reports The Washington Post.

About 1,300 retail locations have enrolled in the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program through September, compared with 900 for all of last year, and represent about eight percent of all 6,000 buildings that are LEED certified, according to The Washington Post.

Starbucks strategy calls for 50 percent of its energy to come from renewable sources and to achieve LEED certification for all of its “ground-up” sites worldwide. The company is one of several working with USGBC on a new certification program that offers operators the option of pursuing the designation for multiple properties at once, reports The Washington Post.

Starbucks will build or renovate 10 test stores around the world as part of the test program.

Starbucks would not reveal to the newspaper how much the green retrofits cost other than noting “it has been pricey.” However, the restaurant chain expects to achieve a full return on investment for these projects in a few years.

To help restaurants reduce their energy consumption, the DOE and its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have released a technical report that provides recommendations on how to achieve up to 50 percent energy savings in quick-service restaurants.

The guide, “Technical Support Document: 50% Energy Savings for Quick-Service Restaurants” (PDF), provides a number of energy-efficiency measures that cut energy use in quick-service restaurants by up to 50 percent compared to a baseline standard in less than five years. The 50 percent goal covers the reduction of site energy use in all eight U.S. climate zones.

PNNL used EnergyPlus, an energy simulation program, to determine the energy savings provided by the energy-efficiency measures. The prototype 2,500-sq.-ft. building model was analyzed across all U.S. climate zones, which were divided into 16 representative climate cities.

The report also provides an estimate of the incremental first costs and simple payback years.

Some of the energy-efficiency measures include the following:

–Ultra-efficient cooking appliances that reduced kitchen exhaust air flow

–An optimized HVAC system configuration to better utilize a dedicated outdoor air system and runaround coil loop heat recovery

–Efficient exterior and interior lighting with dimming controls in the dining room

–Enhanced insulation, cool roofs, and high-performance window glazing

The DOE says the 50 percent savings report will provide the foundation for the next series of Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDGs), which are “how-to” guides that show architects, engineers, and building designers how to achieve above-code energy performance for buildings using existing technologies available today.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) works in collaboration with DOE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society, and the U.S. Green Building Council to develop and publish the free design guides.

The DOE has published guides in several categories for commercial buildings. For example, in September, DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released two technical reports that provide recommendations on how to achieve 50 percent energy savings in new and existing large office buildings and large hospitals.   Courtesy of Environmental Leader


make your own solar panels


Join The Green Club




Share