Stop & Shop announced yesterday that it has completed the installation of solar panels on eight of its stores in Mass., Conn. and N.J. The solar panels will reduce the amount of energy consumed by these stores by more than seven percent. The completion of this project marks an extension of the company’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2015 using 2008 as a baseline.

The photovoltaic (PV) solar power generating systems were developed by Alteris Renewables, Inc., the largest design-build renewable energy company in the Northeast.  The amount of electricity that will be generated by all eight stores annually is estimated to be 1,759,572 kWh, offsetting 1,264 metric tons of CO2. This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the total electricity use of 153 homes over the course of a year.

The solar project is among a series of green solutions Stop & Shop is rolling out across its 375 stores in the Northeast.

“Two years ago, we launched a storewide refresh and  brought customers new technology to simplify their lives – handheld devices for scanning groceries, digital kiosks for placing deli orders, and one-stop weigh stations in the produce department,” said Faith Weiner director of public affairs for Stop & Shop. “Now we’re rolling out new renewable energy solutions for our stores which enable us to conserve energy, while continuing to deliver the quality and value our shoppers expect.”

Faith Weiner continued, “Businesses are waking up to the benefits of solar power.  As one of the largest food retailers in the Northeast, we’re proud to incorporate solar panels into our building, and we appreciate the expertise that Alteris has brought to this tri-state project.”

Beyond solar panels, Stop & Shop has been exploring alternative ways to be green by installing energy-efficient lighting and refrigeration systems in stores and distribution centers.

A $1 million grant from Kaiser Permanente helped to construct a community health clinic that could be the first of its kind to earn LEED certification.

The newest La Maestra Community Health Center located in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego will sport a slew of green features expected to earn the facility a LEED Gold certification. Project designers had a goal of constructing a building that would play many roles: Aside from providing a high level of comfort and using less energy, the building would also serve to introduce the concept of green building to the community.

Green elements include high performance insulated glass, a rooftop solar photovoltaic array expected to generate 15 percent of its energy needs, recycled materials, energy management system, and materials with low volatile organic compounds. The site was the building was chosen for its solar orientation and prevailing breezes. A high-efficiency landscape irrigation system was installed, in addition to drought resistant and native plants.

For more on this story, visit GreenBiz here.

By Jonathan Fahey, Forbes

In England there is a building made with insulation that can be inflated or deflated to adjust to outside temperatures. In Germany there is a house designed to be easily disassembled and recycled. The New York Times Co. building is draped in shades that automatically adjust to the movement of the sun. In Milwaukee a museum changes its very shape to shade itself.

The point of a building is to keep its inhabitants comfortable: Humans want to be warm (but not too warm) and dry. The problem comes in providing heating or cooling, and replacing the light lost when the sun is shut out. The solutions are becoming ever more creative.

“Heat and light are the things people are most concerned about, and they are the things that take energy,” says Brendon Levitt, an architect with the San Francisco Bay Area firm Loisos + Ubbelohde, which specializes in so-called high-performance buildings. He also teaches construction technology at California College of the Arts.

In Pictures: The Most High-Tech Green Buildings

To keep people comfortable and happy in a way that limits the amount of energy needed, architects and engineers are coming up with new materials, technology and approaches to building design, construction and management.

Levitt points to buildings that have been constructed over the last several years that automatically shade themselves with window devices or by changing shape; ones that filter wastewater through plants so it can be reused; and ones that document and broadcast information about how they are behaving.

Buildings are being powered differently, too, of course, by things like solar panels and fuel cells. Companies like AeroVironment ( AVAV – news – people ) are developing small-scale wind turbines for buildings, and companies like United Technologies ( UTX – news – people ) are finding ever more clever ways to capture and reuse the heat otherwise wasted by a building’s heating and cooling system.

Sensor systems designed by companies like Johnson Controls ( JCI – news – people ) and Honeywell ( HON – news – people ) are being added all over buildings to track occupancy, carbon dioxide levels and lighting levels and adjust the environment accordingly. Data on energy and water management are being gathered and broadcast by systems like those created by Lucid Design Group in ways that allows owners to track and compare information.

According to Scot Horst of the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit membership group that devised the environmental and energy design standards known as LEED, the movement to make buildings more efficient was initially spearheaded by architects. Now, though, he says it is being driven by the architects’ clients.

“We’ve been building bad buildings for so long that people realize they don’t want to buy them or lease them because they cost too much to manage,” he says.

There is also what he calls a healthy competition among companies to become and appear more green. PNC Financial Services ( PNC – news – people ) built one of the first LEED-certified buildings, in 2000, and now claims to have more new certified green buildings than any other company. Bank of America ( BAC – news – people ) completed a skyscraper in Manhattan last year that was the first to attain the highest LEED certification, platinum. Wells Fargo ( WFC – news – people ) has announced a plan to certify its branches.

One big issue, however, remains. A building can be designed perfectly, but it can still waste a lot of energy if the occupants leave the air conditioning running with the windows open or don’t shut the lights off. Horst estimates the responsibility for the performance of a building is split three ways: one-third is determined by the design, one-third by how it is managed and one-third by how people inside behave.

Levitt, the architect with Loisos + Ubbelohde, says there is plenty of technology already available for designers to use, but there are still a few things he’d like to see in the future. He has hopes for materials that could be used for insulation or even in windows that can change to let more or less heat or light through.

He’d like thermostats that can better evaluate human comfort, and perhaps expand the tiny range of temperature and humidity that buildings are designed to operate in. He’d also like to find efficient ways to customize spaces within buildings so a person wearing short sleeves isn’t shivering from an overzealous air conditioner while the guy in the suit next door is sweating. (See “Your Future Cubicle.”)

Original source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/02/high-tech-buildings-business-energy-green-buildings.html

SAN DIEGO will be the place to be this summer for an estimated 10,000 of the nation’s top professionals in the energy, water, transportation and environmental industries. EngEx 2010, taking place at the San Diego Convention Center from July 29 – 31, will make America’s Finest City home to some of the top technologists, researchers, policy makers, governmental agencies and investors all looking to collaborate together under one roof.

“We are looking forward to having a great conference that really creates some strong business and innovation opportunities for our nation’s future,” said Kris Ellis, VP of Operations, with EngEx 2010. “The plan is to evolve some big ideas into action from this conference.”

9 Government agencies hosting workshops to help businesses grow:

* How to get government contracts? $500 Billion Given Annually!
* How to get access to government grants? $2.2 Billion Given Annually!
* BLM: How to access Gov’t lands for Oil/ Gas/Wind/Solar/Geothermal projects
* How to export and tap government resources to find international buyers?
* Learn how to work with utility companies to commercialize products!
* Keynote Speaker: Shell Energy North America President “Counting Carbon”
* Alternative Fuels Vehicle Showroom!

[read more]

I had the pleasure of introducing Rep. Edward Markey for his opening keynote at the recent Executive Council Sustainable Cities leadership forum.

Markey has been at the forefront of the Congressional response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is the co-author of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, and author of the bill that increased auto mileage standards for the first time in three decades. The League of Conservation Voters calls him the environment’s best advocate in Congress.

Markey gave a fiery address about the need for the U.S. to become the leader in alternative energy. What I found interesting was his view that regulation can be a catalyst to those efforts. While many business leaders think that regulation in anathema to innovation, Markey disagrees. He pointed to his prior work on the Telecommunications Committee that shifted a segment of the broadcast spectrum into commercial use for cellular and other wireless communications. Without that regulatory move, the cell phone and broadband revolutions would have been greatly slowed or might never have happened at all.

The lesson is that the private and public sectors can be catalysts for each other. The private sector organizations pushing for adoption of a carbon cost bill (either a carbon tax or cap-and-trade) are hoping that it will spur another revolution. They are also, to be honest, hoping to seek regulatory advantage by getting a bill that aligns with their competitive position. Public players have their own interests, too. They are hoping to get jobs created in their districts, contributions from companies that do well as a result of the legislation, and have something to point to as accomplishment in the next election cycle.

Switch On. Switch Off. Switch Over. IKEA makes the change for a brighter future. Starting August 1, 2010, IKEA will begin to phase out all incandescent light bulbs in their US stores. This recent IKEA environmental initiative has a target date of incandescent bulb elimination by January 1, 2011. The aggressive IKEA US store phase out program exemplifies IKEA’s strong commitment to helping their customers live an everyday sustainable life. IKEA will be the first US retailer to completely phase out incandescent light bulbs.

“IKEA is committed to integrating sustainability into all IKEA strategies and practices in the entire product life cycle. We also believe our customers are looking for every day environmentally responsible solutions for themselves. Eliminating incandescents is a simple way to lead the charge for IKEA customers to use energy saving light bulbs, thus reducing energy consumption and reducing the amount of greenhouses gases. It’s a little step with a big impact on our planet,” commented Mike Ward, US IKEA President.

The IKEA phase out will come in advance of the federal legislation that will begin to phase out incandescent light bulbs in 2012. IKEA is taking the lead before this new legislation takes effect.

“It’s important for major retailers to take a step, because what they do will have a major impact,” commented an IKEA Stoughton, MA store customer.
IKEA customers will have a good choice of other effective energy saving bulbs. While the compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) is the most popular bulb, IKEA also offers a range of LED lamps which are 70% more efficient than using incandescent bulbs. IKEA Halogen lamps which consume 30% less energy are also a great ‘white light’ alternative. And beginning fall, 2010, IKEA will offer a halogen bulb which can be used in a standard light socket. This is called a retro-fit halogen bulb. IKEA also offers solar powered lamps including their SUNNAN desk lamp and their ‘SOLIG’ range of outdoor lights.

“By only putting good options on the shelf, retailers can make it easy for customers to do the right thing–in this case, reduce their energy use and impact on the environment,” said Jason Clay, Senior Vice President of Markets at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “As the first major retailer to completely phase out incandescent bulbs, we hope IKEA’s leadership will be contagious.”

“The Alliance to Save Energy is very pleased to recognize IKEA for its steps in phasing out sales of inefficient incandescent light bulbs well ahead of the 2012 implementation date of new federal standards,” commented Jeffrey Harris, Vice President for Programs, Alliance to Save Energy. “As a leading retailer, IKEA will also be educating its customers to choose more energy-efficient lighting technologies, and thus helping to speed the coming market transition.”

Clearly, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb discovery was a landmark 19th century invention. But times have changed. New discoveries prevail. And everyday sustainability practices are important to IKEA customers. People are questioning old habits and creating new lifestyles with a charge to be environmentally responsible – everyday in some simple way. Notably, it’s a never ending job!

Photo courtesy: Portland Sentinel

NRDC built a site that offers building professionals a five-step guide to planning a green building project, from inception and design through marketing. The market for high-performance homes and workplaces is soaring. Explore this website to find out how building green can boost your bottom line. Get tips for streamlining design and construction. Learn which strategies deliver the biggest paybacks. And discover ways to get your project noticed.

• Build your business case
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• Apply sustainable building strategies
• Capitalize on your achievement

For the detailed guide, please visit NRDC : Building Green.