Georgetown Safeway Earns LEED Certification

May 5, 2011 - PRLog -- GEORGETOWN’S “SOCIAL” SAFEWAY SET TO OFFICIALLY BECOME
THE GREENEST GROCERY STORE IN TOWN ON FRIDAY, MAY 6
LEED-Certification Announcement Coincides with Store’s First Anniversary

Lanham, Md. – The Georgetown “Social” Safeway will officially become Washington’s first LEED-certified grocery store with an announcement being made on Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m., during a celebration marking the store’s first anniversary.  When the store opened last year, in a striking new building at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue NW, officials promised that not only would the store provide a friendlier shopping setting for customers, but it would also have a friendlier impact on the environment by virtue of being the Eastern Division’s greenest store to date.  Now, that promise becomes reality.

The Georgetown store – one of 15 operated in the District by the company – will commemorate the opening with a week of activities and amusement that includes cooking demos by area chefs, wine and cheese tastings, and a Spring Floral Festival outside on the grounds.  Friday’s official LEED Certification announcement will include city and community leaders, Safeway Eastern Division management and representatives from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).  Afterwards, events will include a moon bounce, along with costumed characters, sampling and more, leading into a bustling weekend of fun pursuits.

The 71,067-square-foot Georgetown store, which operates 24 hours a day (as do the pharmacy and the Starbucks), was designed to promote the character and historic nature of its upper Georgetown neighborhood, maintaining the open, inviting atmosphere that resulted in people dubbing it the “Social” Safeway.  But going much further than that, the store was designed and built to be the first LEED-certified grocery store in the District, and Safeway’s second LEED-certified store (the other being located in Santa Cruz, Calif.).
Developed by the USGBC, LEED (which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across the most significant environmental metrics  - energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.  Safeway has built and plans to maintain this store to LEED specifications, confirming their commitment to help ensure a better tomorrow.
    Following are some of the design and store operations elements which underscore the green store concept:
•   Sunshade screens have been installed on south and west sides of the building to reduce solar heat gain.

•   Storm Water Drainage System
    o   Runoff from the parking lot and roof is collected and filtered on site to minimize impact on storm water systems and allow collected water to percolate back into the aquifer.
    o   Storm water management retention is in use to reduce pollutants.

•   Water Efficient Landscaping:  Site uses drip irrigation with landscape irrigation system water diverted from public sewer system by reuse of defrost waste water.  Safeway has selected drought tolerant native plants that require little or no irrigation to help reduce the burden on our water resources.

•   White “TPO” roofing:  White roofing membrane reduces the heat island effect and decreases cooling requirements for the store.

•    LED lighting in exterior signs.  LEDs reduce energy consumption by 80 percent or more compared to standard neon signs.  LEDs also reduce maintenance and repair costs, and solid waste over the sign’s life.

•    Pedestrian friendly urban design.  The new Social Safeway is designed for easy pedestrian access and closer proximity to public transportation.

•     Alternative transportation.  Bicycle storage and changing rooms are provided for employee use at this store.  The parking area includes expanded bicycle rack areas.

•      No CFC Refrigerants.  Safeway uses R-507 exclusively in refrigeration systems, and that has been the company’s standard since about 1995. R-507 is an HFC refrigerant with low ozone depletion potential.

•      Protocol-Distributed Refrigeration Systems.
      o   Places the compressors closer to the various loads around the store to reduce the amount of copper piping in one store by about 35%.
      o   Reduced the refrigerant charge by approximately 30% or about 1,000 lbs.
      o   Reduced piping and joints result in fewer potential refrigerant leaks.

•     Centralized HVAC System.  Using R-410a in HVAC systems is more energy efficient than R-22 and has zero ozone depletion potential.

Safeway's commitment to a sustainable future makes the company a leader in the industry.  Greenpeace recently ranked Safeway the number one supermarket on its list for Seafood Sustainability (moving up from number four in 2010 and surpassing Whole Foods).  The company’s other accolades for sustainability include being named to Dow Jones’ Sustainability Index and Newsweek’s Green Rankings for two consecutive years;  being a WRAP (Waste Reduction Award Program) recipient for 12 straight years; being a founding member of the Sustainability Consortium; and being ranked among the top companies on the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program.  Additionally, Safeway purchased 93 million kilowatt hours of wind energy to offset power used by all of its U.S. fuel stations, along with its Corporate office and stores in San Francisco and Boulder, Colo.   The company was the first major retailer to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding GHG (greenhouse gas) allowance trading system.

Safeway (SWY:NYSE), a Fortune 100 company, is one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America with annualized sales exceeding $41 billion.  The company operates 1,694 stores in the United States and Canada with a total workforce of nearly 200,000 employees.

Safeway’s Eastern Division employs approximately 18,000 people and currently operates 163 stores, including 30 Genuardi's Markets in Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with 70 Safeway stores in Maryland, 43 in Virginia, 15 in the District of Columbia and five in Delaware.

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National retail grocery chain with stores throughout located throughout North America (approximately 20 states and Canada).