Whole Foods Using LED Lighting to save

Whole Foods Market, the natural and organic food retailer, is increasing efforts to reduce energy consumption at all stores by 25 percent per square foot by 2015. The company has also committed to wind energy, more on-site renewable energy, and aggressive green building, advanced refrigeration and transportation practices, which will result in significant emissions reductions.
"With this combination of strategies, along with the implementation of energy and emissions tracking systems, we intend to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent per square foot by 2015," said Kathy Loftus, Whole Foods Market global leader of sustainable engineering and energy management. "Saving energy costs less than buying it, so we are reducing our appetite for energy from both traditional and renewable sources."

Existing stores are using less energy through Whole Foods Market’s comprehensive retrofit and upgrade projects, which include smarter refrigeration, state-of-the-art lighting and controls systems, and advanced efficiency motors for HVAC and refrigeration.

"After initial metering results led us to estimate that energy reductions may be close to 20 million kWh over the past two years, we were motivated to earmark $10 million over the next 18 months for additional retrofit and upgrade projects," said Loftus.

In new stores, energy efficient design, alternative refrigerants, and advanced systems dramatically reduce the amount of energy and traditional refrigerant gas being employed. Several stores have been awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill certification, which recognizes eco-friendly commercial refrigeration systems. Early examples of reduced energy are apparent in several new stores: Colorado’s SouthGlenn store which, after only a few months, is using roughly 35 percent less energy than two older stores nearby; yet, this location is only about 15 percent smaller than the other stores and California’s Santa Barbara store uses 45 percent less energy than a nearby store of comparable size.