Aldi Earns LEED Status for California HQ
Hard-discount grocery chain Aldi has earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its environmentally sustainable distribution center and regional headquarters in Moreno Valley, Calif.
"Aldi is taking steps wherever possible to reduce our environmental impact," said Aldi VP Aaron Sumida. "Building our warehouse to meet LEED Gold requirements is a significant achievement, one that will enable us to conserve energy, reduce water consumption – which is critical in California – and ultimately reduce our carbon footprint."
To meet LEED Gold standards, Aldi worked with Graycor Construction Co. as the design-build partner along with architects and engineers to improve the design and materials used in the development of facility.
Features include:
- Renewable energy from on-site solar panels that provide 60 percent.
- Refrigeration system using ammonia, which is a naturally occurring element and highly energy efficient.
- Electric vehicle charging stations and bicycle racks that promote the use of greener methods of transportation.
- Water-efficient landscaping and plumbing.
"While climate change is a global problem, innovative companies like Aldi are addressing it through local solutions," said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC. "By implementing measures to ensure the facility is operating more efficiently, Aldi is helping us get one step closer to USGBC's vision of a sustainably built environment within a generation and contributing to the uptake of green building practice worldwide."
Aldi and Graycor partnered on the project with companies including HPA Architecture, Webber/Smith Associates Inc., Gregg Electric Inc., Air Control Systems, HSA Engineering Inc., Huitt-Zollars, Ridge Landscape Architects and KDI.
Throughout construction, Aldi diverted more than 90 percent of its waste to be recycled, composted or repurposed.
Aldi embraces sustainable initiatives across all its operations. The company says its stores have a smaller carbon footprint than traditional grocery stores, due to their smaller size, and feature environmentally friendly building materials and state-of-the-art lighting and refrigeration systems that reduce energy use.
"As Aldi expands operations to California, we will continue to uphold these values by ensuring our California stores feature sustainable building elements designed to reduce our carbon footprint through energy efficiency, waste reduction and green building design," Sumida said.
Batavia, Ill.-based Aldi operates more than 1,500 US stores in 34 states.