Three Stop & Shop Stores Receive LEED Silver Certifications

The Stop and Shop Supermarket Co. and its parent company Ahold USA recently achieved another milestone in their commitment to building greener sustainable stores. The Super Stop & Shop stores in Hyannis, Hyde Park and Wayland, Massachusetts have each received Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design (LEED) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the national accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. Stop & Shop has 13 superstores which are LEED certified, with 4 of these having received LEED Silver certification. There are four levels of LEED certifications; Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The number of points a project earns determines the level of LEED certification that the project will receive. The three Super Stop & Shop stores received innovative credits in the LEED certification process and were able to obtain the distinguished LEED Silver rating based upon increased environmental benefits. Starting with the site design, all three stores implemented storm water management techniques to treat storm water runoff and remove pollutants. The Hyannis, MA store used permeable pavers and bio filtration islands in the parking areas to reduce and treat runoff. The Wayland, MA store was able to significantly reduce the quantity of storm water runoff leaving the site by using Low Impact Development (LID) techniques, thereby reducing runoff impacts to surrounding areas. The site lighting design for the Hyannis, MA store achieved the Light Pollution Reduction credit reducing light trespass and minimizing negative impacts of nighttime light pollution. The Wayland, MA store is the first store to achieve the LEED credit for On-Site Renewable Energy. 627 photovoltaic panels on the roof use the sun’s energy to generate electricity for the store. The panels generate renewable energy that offsets 12.6% of the store’s total energy costs and reduces carbon emissions as well. The Wayland, MA store is also the second store to install a CO2 refrigeration system and thereby achieve a LEED Innovation credit for ‘Innovative Refrigeration for Food Storage and Display. The state-of the-art refrigeration system improves energy efficiency of this equipment by about 40% and reduces global warming impacts by nearly 50%. All three stores achieved several Materials and Resources LEED credits by utilizing an average of 26% recycled content materials, 45% regional materials and nearly 90% certified wood. In addition to the standard Ahold palette of environmentally-friendly interior materials that achieve a number of the credits for materials and healthy indoor air quality, two of these stores, Hyde Park and Hyannis, achieved a credit for installing ceiling and wall systems that meet stringent indoor air quality standards. In addition to building LEED certified stores, Stop & Shop is also committed to reducing its energy consumption in all its stores as part of its goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2015 using 2008 as a base line. The company is also focused on reducing its cardboard, plastic, organic and food waste and has set a goal to reach zero waste by 2020. This means that at least 90% of its total waste will be diverted from landfills. Joe Kelley, president of the Stop &Shop New England Division commented, “We are utilizing innovative green building technologies, and building our new stores according to the LEED standards, this is part of our commitment to environmental stewardship and our promise to be a Better Neighbor. We are very proud to have achieved the distinguished LEED Silver certification status in our Hyannis, Hyde Park and Wayland stores. Stop & Shop has been building energy efficient stores for over 15 years and we are committed to using less energy in our operations. We are constantly working at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental impact of our operations on the communities we serve.”