The Whole Foods store in Dedham, Mass., may just be the greenest grocery store in the world.
This showcase facility demonstrates leading energy and sustainability practices to Whole Food customers, employees and investors, as well as the local community. Showcase facilities are a powerful learning tool for companies that are implementing sustainable business practices.
Whole Foods isn't the only leading company utilizing showcase facilities. The Procter & Gamble manufacturing plant in Auburn, Maine, for example, is a zero-waste facility. The Empire State Building, managed by Malkin Holdings, uses 100 percent Green Power.
When I toured the Dedham Whole Foods store, my expectations were naturally high, but I left impressed.
What is so remarkable about this particular store? The store is notable because of the actual implementation of so many leading sustainable and energy practices in construction, facility operations, store operations and culture:
• All structural steel is made from 100 percent recycled materials and the building uses a white roof
• Renewable constructions materials include Marmoleum surfaces and Trikeenan wall tiles
• 90 percent of the store's energy needs are met by a 400kWh fuel cell and 80 kWh solar panels
• The refrigeration system’s rejected heat is reclaimed and used to heat water
• Kitchen exhaust systems are on-demand and do not run continuously
• Skylights and automated lighting reduction control are used extensively
• 80 percent of store waste is reused
• Grocery bags and cash register tape are made from 100 percent recycled paper
• The store has innovative programs such as wine cork recycling and the promotion of multiple containers for meals and lunches. Customers can come in and try sustainable cleaning products before they buy them in an in-store cleaning and sink area
Sustainability is evident in the building, operations, products, company culture, employees and customer interaction.
Yes, the store is a newly constructed facility and this gave Whole Foods the opportunity to incorporate sustainability into the design from the ground floor. But, the company’s investment in sustainable facility and operations went much farther than many new builds.
Kudos to Whole Foods.
Seeing does lead to understanding. In the world of 100-page CSR reports and a sea of thousands of Tweets, the physical experience of a showcase facility is powerful.
Company leaders should not underestimate the profound influence of showcase facilities, be it a manufacturing plant, office, warehouse, retail outlet or fleet. Showcase facilities play a critical role in the important but difficult process of culture change toward sustainability.
Looks like the building is
Looks like the building is surrounded by a lovely parking lot. Maybe it could go the extra step further and provide more bike parking than car parking, as New Season's Market did in the SE part of Portland.
Otherwise, it is nice to see that their building accomplishes what it does, though pretty much everything they've done is relatively standard and easy to implement. The only significant additional cost is the addition of the on-site renewable energy.
YOU are an inspiration!...
YOU are an inspiration!... Wish ALL stores... not just Whole Foods, follow your lead!
This structure's attributes
This structure's attributes are to be commended.
However, what happens on and AROUND the building itself appears not to have been addressed in an ecologically healthy/sustainable/sound manner.
There is no mention of whether the massive expanse of paved area (pathways, parking lots)is in any way pervious(permeable) to rain and air pollution, or whether it has been contoured to allow for water absorption and catchment of polluted output from vehicles.
One needs to consider also that enormous buildings such as this one are in and of themselves equal to massive paving - Scale Counts!
From the photo, the landscaping looks to be very meager at best, thus leaving the area open to create a heat island, and a "dust bowl".
Is there a living/green roof? Living walls anywhere? These could have at least somewhat mitigating effects.
Today it is no longer sufficient to have baseline measures of energy efficiency, recycled materials, waste recovery and reuse, etc. when building.
In addition to the use of non-toxic building and interior materials, taking the ECOLOGY and sustainability of the WHOLE(!) space, which includes the surrounding areas, into dynamic account is absolutely essential.
...Then of course there is the aspect of the building's effect on the people who work there, as well as those who experience it as customers...
Buildings do not exist separately from their WHOLE environment and those who use them.
Alisa Rose Seidlitz
Certified Green Building Professional, Graceful Lifestyles Designer/Consultant, Healthy Spaces Coach, Ecological Landscape Designer
As a sustainable building
As a sustainable building consultant, I find the Massachusetts store a model of money well spent. Whole Foods builds sustainably in a very transparent manner- making local & renewable-resource-rich materials choices, increasing daylighting, reducing waste. These long-term investments in energy efficiency, in the productivity & health of their workers, and in the local economy speak volumes; they provide a showcase of sustainable building to the many who support Whole Foods with their dollars.
Pity that Whole Foods isn't walking their talk. Whole Foods has an opportunity to follow-through on "green design" beyond self-congratulatory physical plant demonstrations. The MOST AUTHENTICALLY GREEN GROCERY STORE IN THE WORLD WOULD MAINTAIN THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE. In 2011, after twelve years of high global environmental and ethical standards and opposition to Monsanto's genetically-engineered crops,"green" Whole Foods has abandoned the nation's organic farmlands. Asking Monsanto to pay "compensation" to organic farmers for "any losses related to the contamination of crops" is little more than a superficial attempt by Whole Foods to protect their own reputation. The livelihoods of farmers are the tip of the iceberg. An AUTHENTICALLY GREEN GROCERY STORE DOES NOT INVEST IN SUBSIDIES THAT SUPPORT PRACTICES THAT change the nutritional content of food (shorter growing cycles crops), that threaten the existence of beneficial insects, and that alter, fundamentally entire ecosystems. This demand for monetary compensation demonstrates a complete abandonment of the very ecological principles that define sustainability.
In March of this year, the UN finally acknowledged reports studying the important role of small farms and biodynamic, web-honoring principles to sustainable, safe food systems. The UN is acknowledging the systemic dangers of GMO practices. Surely voicing support of the UN would be good for your reputation, Whole Foods. Please walk your talk.
Great... except that Whole
Great... except that Whole Foods is 100% on-board with Monsanto's genetically-engineered crops. Way to cave to big money, Whole Foods! The idea of their building being "green" is very ironic, considering the corporate ethics that drive this large money-driven corporation who obviously have lost touch with their consumers.
DITCH WHOLE FOODS and encourage your community to start a member-owner driven food cooperative who support local farmers that do not grow genetically-engineered crops!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronnie-cummins/the-organic-elite-surrend_b...