Salt Lake City Whole Foods First in Utah to Earn GreenChill Award

The new Salt Lake City Whole Foods Market has become the first supermarket in Utah to earn the EPA GreenChill Award, while at the same time achieving a three-globes rating from the Green Building Institute.

The grocer worked with CSHQA, a design collaboration firm on the project. The Green Globes program was developed to offer a practical and affordable way to advance the overall environmental performance and sustainability of commercial buildings. Environmental impacts are comprehensively assessed in multiple categories: Energy; Indoor Environment; Site; Water; Resources; Emissions; and Project/Environmental Management.

Some of the sustainable features that helped the Whole Foods store earn its certification include:

• Cutting-edge energy and refrigeration systems
• Recycled and locally-manufactured materials
• Heating and cooling equipment that doesn’t produce ozone-depleting or potential greenhouse gases
• Water-saving plumbing fixtures
• Large windows to reduce the need for supplemental daytime lighting

As a GreenChill-certified store, the facility only uses refrigerants that do not harm the earth’s ozone layer. According to EPA, a typical supermarket leaks about 1,000 pounds of harmful refrigerant gas into the atmosphere every year. CSHQA engineers and DC Engineering worked together to cut this store’s refrigeration emissions by 85 percent.

“Whole Foods and CSHQA can be very proud of their accomplishment,” said Keilly Witman, manager of EPA’s GreenChill Partnership. “People want to do business with companies that share their environmental values. By dedicating themselves to GreenChill standards, they have demonstrated to their customers and communities that they are serious about helping to save our Earth’s ozone later and fighting climate change.”

Boise, Idaho-based CSHQA is an architecture and engineering firm with teams that work together with owners to create better-built environments and spaces.

Whole Foods operates more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom.

The Green Building Initiative (GBI) is a not for profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches for residential and commercial construction.