A new Whole Foods in Brooklyn is one of the most energy efficient supermarkets in the country, according to the chain. The store is 60 percent more efficient than the building code requires.
The store was profiled on the Switchboard staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The 56,000 square foot structure uses an array of efficiency technologies, including a combined heat-and-power system that produces electricity, heating and cooling, and captures heat to power machines that chill water, and provide heat and hot water. The system is designed to keep the store operating in a power failure.
On-site renewable energy includes 342 kW of solar power canopies on the parking lot that supplies 20 percent of the store’s needs. And the 18 street lights in the parking lot are powered by a combined small-scale wind-and-solar power system.
