NEW STOP & SHOP LOOKS TO CUT ENERGY

SARAH MULHOLLAND

QUINCY, Mass. -- Stop & Shop here has opened a 60,000-square-foot "low-energy" store in Foxboro, Mass., that it anticipates will become a prototype for the chain.

The store was designed with the intent of putting a significant dent in utility bills, officials said.

"Utility costs, especially in the Northeast, continue to rise and our bills are outrageous," said Steve Krupski, senior vice president of construction and engineering for the chain.

"We are looking to gain some control of an expense that is typically considered a noncontrollable."

According to Krupski, the initial goal was to effect a 30% reduction in energy consumption at the Foxboro store.

However, computer modeling indicates a 38% reduction is possible, he said.

The energy-saving features being put to use include energy-efficient glass doors on the refrigerators, skylights for additional lighting, increased insulation and a reflective roof.

Some of the features, such as the refrigerator doors, had been previously rolled out at a few other stores, but this is the first attempt to achieve maximum savings by tying it all together, Krupski said.

The store will be closely monitored to gauge the effectiveness of the program, he said.

Krupski put the price tag for this unit in excess of $500,000 -- "over and above" the usual expenditure for a store this size.

However, he was confident that the store would pay for itself in time, and that many of the features someday would be implemented at other stores.

"The real big-ticket items were the skylights, and we just don't know yet," he said.

In addition to holding down utility expenses, the store is an environmentally friendly operation, Krupski added.

According to Massachusetts Electric, the new store will prevent roughly 987 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions from being introduced into the atmosphere each year.

The store also uses such "green" building materials as recycled glass in the ceiling tiles and formaldehyde-free insulation.

"It started off as an energy-saving project," said Krupski. "Along the way, it tuned into an environmental project as well.

"It's all part of being a good corporate citizen."