The Next Frontier of Green Building
Forward-thinking retailers are systematically retrofitting older stores
REI is retrofitting more than half of its existing stores with more efficient lighting and expects significant cost savings. (Photo: Scott Dressel-Martin)
Retail Innovation
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2009 INNOVATIONS REVIEW
Companies find that environmental sustainability helps reduce costs and gain advantages.
Many retailers are building new "green prototype" stores as they work with the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Retail pilot program. Farther ahead of the curve are companies that are trying to retrofit their existing stores—a much more complicated job but ultimately a more rewarding one, simply because there are so many more old stores than new ones.
Existing buildings can be retrofitted with features that until recently were associated mostly with new construction. Among them are day-lighting and energy management systems; renewable power generation, including solar hot water heaters and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV); highly efficient insulation and heating-cooling systems; "cool roofs"; fixtures or building features made from post-consumer and post-production waste or rapidly renewable materials; low-water plumbing fixtures and waste water reuse.
Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) is a leader in this arena. The company built two prototype stores—a new one in Round Rock, Texas, that opened in 2008 and an extensive retrofit in Boulder, Colorado, that reopened in 2007. The Boulder store now consumes 25% less energy and 30% less water than the industry standard.
From those experiences, the company learned what could—and couldn’t—be done economically and began to allocate capital for systematic improvements to all of its more than 100 existing stores.
Wal-Mart is also experimenting with retrofits and spreading best practices throughout its stores. LED lighting, to take just one example, is being installed in all refrigeration cases because the energy savings pay back the upfront costs very rapidly.
Posted: 09-Apr-2009; Updated: 20-Apr-2009
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