New Cub Foods Store Wins EPA GreenChill Gold Certification

A Cub Foods store that opened yesterday in St. Paul, Minn. Has received EPA GreenChill Gold-Level Certification and -- upon approval -- will become the first grocery store in Minnesota and one of the first stores in the nation to successfully achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) NC 2.2 Gold Certification.

"The challenge for us as a design team was to deliver to Cub its most energy-efficient store to date," explained Supervalu-owned Design Services Group (DSG) lead architect Bryan Slattery. "We had to significantly reduce our typical carbon footprint, while keeping the Cub brand intact from an aesthetic and operational standpoint, and to do all of this in the most cost-effective manner possible."

The GreenChill designation is bestowed for outstanding use of environmentally friendly refrigeration technology. With the aid of DSG engineering and equipment specialists, the new Cub store's refrigerant charge is 65 percent lower than the industry standard. In addition, the store's refrigeration system was completely leak-tight at installation, according to the grocer. If the store is approved for LEED Gold Certification as expected, it will be the first supermarket in Minnesota and one of only 15 retail stores in the nation to be Gold-certified.

The 62,900-square-foot Phalen store's sustainable features include the following:

--Forty-four skylights that illuminate 75 percent of regularly occupied spaces using a solar-powered GPS system that tracks and redirects sunlight as needed.
--The first commercial parking lot in Minnesota to be illuminated using only LED lights, which need to be replaced every 40 years and provide 50 percent energy savings.
--Nearly half of the waste from buildings torn down on the construction site was recycled and reused as fill.
--Thirty-five percent savings in lighting costs compared with typical Cub stores.
--A maintenance-free floor that eliminates the need for chemicals during the cleaning process.
--A landscape irrigation system that uses 50 percent less water than typical systems.
--Seventy-five percent of the building construction waste won't end up in landfills. Instead, it will be recycled and turned into other useful materials.

Supervalu-owned Cub Foods operates 58 stores in the Twin Cities.
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