Whole Foods store awarded double green honors

New York City -- Whole Foods Market’s store in Lake Grove has become the first supermarket in the United States to be awarded with both a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council as well as a Three Green Globe certification from the Green Building Initiative.



The store, which opened in March 2010, is the third of Whole Foods Market’s 22 locations in the Northeast region to receive a LEED certification, and the first to be recognized by the Green Building Initiative.



Whole Foods’ Lake Grove site features a number of sustainable features, including water efficiency fixtures reduced water usage by more than 40% from the calculated baseline design fixture performance requirements established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. More than a 20% reduction in lighting power density was achieved over that allowed by the ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1 2004. A companywide purchase of 776 million-kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits (RECs) from wind farms in 2009 helped the project to earn green power credits, as well.



More than 10% of the materials used in the construction of the store were made from recycled content and another 10% were reused resources (reclaimed Douglas fir). And 75% of all the construction waste from the project was recycled rather than being placed in a landfill or incinerated.



Low-emitting materials from paints and adhesives to furniture and carpet were used in the project. Plus. thorough flush-out of the building was conducted to ensure the indoor environmental quality of the building was ideal for customers and associates.