EXCLUSIVE ONLINE SIDEBAR: Price Chopper’s Green Machine

In addition to its LEED-supervised construction and GreenChill gold certification, the Price Chopper Colonie, N.Y., store uses energy-efficient fuel cell technology from South Windsor, Conn.-based UTC Power to provide about 60 percent of the store’s power needs. The fuel cell is also capable of providing 400 kilowatts of standby power in case of a grid failure, enabling the location to operate without disruption.

Other green features of the store include:

-Recycling over 75 percent of construction waste (rather than disposing of it in landfills or incinerators)
-Using natural lighting throughout the store to lower electrical consumption
-Employing green building materials throughout the store to reduce energy usage, and the need for certain cleaning fluids and paints
-Obtaining (where available) local construction materials to minimize environmental impacts from transportation
-Installing refrigeration equipment that minimizes ozone-depleting refrigerant charges (in case of a leak)
-Recovering the heat from the refrigeration system and reusing it for space heating
-Recycling waste produce from trimming through a hydrator process that reduces the produce to “water,” and prevents waste from being transported and disposed of at landfills
-Using high-efficiency, low-energy lighting systems in the store and exterior signage

For much more about energy-efficient measures in place at Price Chopper’s Colonie, N.Y., store, read the Store of the Month feature “Colonie of Concepts” by Joseph Tarnowski in the August 2010 issue of Progressive Grocer.

—Joseph Tarnowski