Loveland, Ohio – Grocery shoppers at the new Kroger store in this eastern Cincinnati suburb are bathed in sunlight from 75 skylights in rows overlooking the aisles.
It’s the most noticeable among many features aimed at reducing energy use by the nation’s largest traditional grocery store chain.
The store also has compact fluorescent lights that require less electricity and last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs. Motion detectors help shut off lights when areas are vacated. The store recycles exhaust to heat water, uses more-efficient plastic fans instead of metal ones and has concrete floors that can be cleaned with water instead of chemicals used for tile.
The grocery business is getting greener, led by new initiatives from chains such as Kroger Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tesco PLC. One of Wal-Mart’s environmentally friendly test stores is located in Aurora.
The grocers are part of a broad range of businesses, including giants such as General Electric Co., General Motors Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., that are reacting to increasing public concern about energy issues.
The trend is particularly noticeable among grocery stores, a regular stop for American shoppers. For them, energy savings are part of a critical effort to cut costs and deal with tighter profit margins as Wal-Mart and other discounters build up their grocery aisles.
The efforts make financial and public relations sense, environmentalists say.
“Given our size, we have a certain amount of responsibility to the environment and to being a good citizen,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s vice chairman. “We take everything we save with the energy reductions and we reinvest it with the customer … in lower prices or in improved service.”
Kroger, which operates as King Soopers and City Market in Colorado, says energy consumption is down 20 percent since 2000 thanks to efforts ranging from new, more- efficient technology to pushing common- sense steps like turning lights off when not needed.
Company officials say it’s hard to state a total financial savings because energy prices have been rising, but they estimate it at tens of millions of dollars.
“It’s a critical cost element that they still have some room to improve upon,” said Craig Hutson, an analyst at the corporate bond research firm Gimme Credit. “In an environment where it’s intensely competitive from a pricing standpoint, whatever you can do on costs is going to help you generate profits.”
Dave Hamilton, director of the Sierra Club’s global warming and energy program, said grocers, with many power needs such as refrigeration, can help their images while saving money.
