Ahold USA receives EPA Green Power Leadership Award

Ahold USA announces that it has received a 2015 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The annual awards recognize the country’s leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market. EPA presented Ahold USA with a Green Power Purchasing Award at the 2015 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in Arlington, Va. on Oct. 19, 2015. Combined, Ahold USA and its four regional Divisions –– Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, and Giant Carlisle –– are using enough green power to meet eight percent of its electricity use, company officials say. Ahold USA was one of only eleven organizations nationwide to receive a Leadership Award for its green power purchase, officials add. The award recognizes EPA Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through purchases of green power from a utility green power product, a power purchase agreement, or a renewable energy certificate (REC) product.  Ahold USA businesses are currently purchasing nearly 149 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, and is buying renewable energy certificates from 3Degrees. In addition, Ahold USA is generating nearly nine million kWh annually from an on-site solar energy system. “Ahold USA and our retail divisions are committed to energy efficiency and environmental stewardship, with the goals to reduce our carbon footprint 20 percent by the end of this year and to achieve zero waste companywide by 2020,” says Marissa Nelson, senior vice president of responsible retailing, Ahold USA. “Thank you to the EPA for recognizing our efforts to build more efficient stores and implement resources that enable us to generate renewable energy. This is an important component of our commitment to being a better and greener neighbor to the communities where we operate.” In addition, Ahold USA ranks as No. 34 on EPA’s National Top 100 list, No. 6 on the Top 30 Retail list, and No. 23 on the Top 30 On-site list. Each list highlights EPA Green Power Partners using the most renewable energy annually as of July 6, 2015. “EPA is pleased to recognize Ahold USA with a Green Power Purchasing Award for its exceptional commitment to buying green power and reducing carbon pollution associated with its electricity use,” says EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. "In doing so, Ahold USA is taking action to address climate change, and we encourage other organizations to do the same.” According to the EPA, Ahold USA’s current green power use of nearly 158 million kWh is equivalent to the electricity use of nearly 15,000 average American homes annually. Over the past decade, Ahold USA has been developing its renewable and clean energy portfolio, which includes roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems at 25 Stop & Shop and Giant Food Stores and a fuel cell project at a Stop & Shop in Torrington, Conn., which consumes natural gas to produce electricity and waste heat. Next year, Ahold USA will complete construction of its first anaerobic digester at its Freetown, Mass. Distribution Center. This zero waste solution uses existing transportation distribution systems to generate clean, sustainable power. Food that goes unsold and is unable to be donated to regional food banks or local farms for animal feed or composting, will be transported back to the distribution center. By recreating the natural process of anaerobic digestion, an organically occurring water purification system found in wetlands, the carbon in the unsold food is cleanly and efficiently converted into a biogas and used as a power source. Once operational, the digester will create approximately 1.25 megawatts of clean, based load electricity which would offset more than 40 percent of the Freetown facility’s energy use.