'Green grocer' redefined

Some people light up a room when they arrive. Sweetbay Supermarkets customers will light up the freezer aisle in the company's new Tarpon Springs store.

The store opened last month on South Pinellas Avenue. Sweetbay built it as a virtual showcase of eco-friendly energy-saving projects not usually seen in grocery stores. There are motion sensors that turn on lights when customers walk nearby. And rather than open-air shelves, huge areas of the store have refrigerators with glass doors.

There are hyperefficient air conditioners, on-demand water heaters, restrooms that use reclaimed water for flushing and even preferred parking close to the door for hybrid cars.

Such changes are a sharp departure for the grocery industry. That's because most grocery stores are the Hummers of retail.

They're large air-conditioned buildings filled with freezers and surrounded by giant paved parking lots.

"We spend so much on electricity to keep perishables cold," said Mike Vail, president and chief operating officer of Sweetbay. "And one of our most common complaints is that people are too cold in the aisles. ... In some stores we have to actually pump in heat in the summer, and we're in Florida."

Publix officials are thinking along similar lines to save energy, and a slew of projects will start appearing in their stores soon, if not already.

So many energy-saving changes are going into Sweetbay's new Tarpon Springs location that the store likely will win something almost unheard of in the grocery industry, a LEED certification for energy savings from the U.S. Green Building Council. Among items that will lower energy use:

•More efficient air conditioners that bring in more fresh air;

•On-demand water heaters in deli and bakery areas that heat water as needed;

•And refrigerated sections will have pull-down curtains to close after customers leave, reducing the flow of refrigerated air that ends up wasted on the floor at night.

Other changes were made to reduce the environmental impact of the store. There are drought-tolerant native plants in the parking lot fed by reclaimed water. There are air pumps for customers arriving on bicycles, and a link to the Pinellas Trail behind the store.

Large cisterns under the parking lot store rain.

The changes will save the company money. An average Sweetbay supermarket can rack up an electric bill of $26,000 a month, officials say, using as much power as about 50 average homes. New technology in the Tarpon Springs store will cut that bill by 20 percent to 30 percent and reduce water use by 40 percent.

All the eco-friendly changes probably added 5 percent to 10 percent to the construction costs of a project that cost several million dollars, Sweetbay officials said. But given how much Sweetbay can save on energy, a slew of existing stores soon will have items such as motion sensors and refrigerator curtains, Vail said.

Publix has several stores going through the LEED certification process and has a growing list of energy-saving projects.

Publix is exploring how to use solar power in more facilities, and officials say the projects look hopeful. Four locations now have photovoltaic systems, including GreenWise stores in Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton, Miami Lakes and the company headquarters in Lakeland.

Lighting could change significantly at Publix, with more efficient fluorescent bulbs already in some store designs. Some locations have new LED lighting in freezers and coolers that can reduce energy use by up to 80 percent, plus motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied aisles.

Several new stores use refrigeration methods that significantly cut energy use, spokeswoman Shannon Patten said.

There are 60 U.S. stores with LEED certification, said Ashley Katz of the U.S. Green Building Council, which certifies LEED projects. Those include a few stores operated by Meijer, Costco, Stop & Shop and a Whole Foods Market in Sarasota.