Retail goes green evaporative cooling

For more information, or to locate a distributor near you, call 0034-932 312 810 (for European sales) and 1-800-695-2942 (for international sales). Or, you can visit us online at www.lc-europe.com (Europe) and www.port-a-cool.com (manufacturer´s website).

Sustainable mobile climate control Barcelona bookstore

For more information, or to locate a distributor near you, call 0034-932 312 810 (for European sales) and 1-800-695-2942 (for international sales). Or, you can visit us online at www.lc-europe.com (Europe) and www.port-a-cool.com (manufacturer´s website).

Sustainable cooling produce department supermarket

Port-A-Cool 24" cooling produce department supermarket

Many international retailers think green in retail. By selecting the assortment they offer and by thinking about their energy consumption. One of the supermarkets highest cost post is the energy consumption of the climate control system. An airconditioning costs a lot of money and is not offering a sustainable solution for a green thinking retailer. Placing an evaporative cooler is! Not only does the retailer save on installation, also the consumption is very low and therefor offering an environmental-friendly solution to cool the supermarket and saving a lot of money for the retailers.

Visit our website www.lc-europe.com to get to know more about the advantages of using evaporative cooling in retail and visit the website Green Supermarket to learn more about sustainable retail.

Retail goes green: introduction of sustainable bio cooler in retail

http://www.lc-europe.com
http://ecocooling.blogspot.com

Port-A-Cool, LLC is the ecological alternative for effective cooling

We’ve all heard it: reduce your carbon footprint, sustainability, and all about the dangers of global warming. You might ask yourself “How much is true and what can I do to improve the environment?” Little changes can make all the difference.

What is sustainability?

Sustainability is the concept that every generation should meet their energy needs without compromising the energy needs of future generations. Efficiency and conservation are key components of energy sustainability. Energy sustainability focuses on long-term energy strategies and policies that ensure adequate energy to meet today’s needs, as well as tomorrow’s.
Sustainability also includes investing in research and development of advanced technologies for producing conventional energy sources, promoting the use of alternative energy sources, and encouraging sound environmental policies.

What is a Carbon Footprint?

Your carbon footprint is the direct effect your actions and lifestyle have on the environment in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Probably the biggest contributors to your footprint are your travel needs, and your electricity demands at home. However, all your actions have a direct or indirect impact, including your diet, and the clothes you wear. We know cars, buses and aeroplanes burn gasoline, public transport may use gasoline and electricity and your home uses a significant portion of your personal electricity needs that generally comes from fossil fuel burning power plants. All these actions contribute to accelerating global warming and climate change.

What is Port-A-Cool, LLC doing to help?

• Port-A-Cool, LLC recycles all scrap plastic from the manufacture of the rotationally molded plastic housings and uses recycled plastic in the molds, reducing waste.
• Port-A-Cool® portable evaporative cooling units utilize an all natural cooling method and haveimplemented state-of-the-art technology to perfect the process.
• No harmful greenhouse gases are emitted from the units during the cooling process.
• Only tap water and 115v or 220v of electricity are needed. The 36 inch model produces cool air for eight hours for less than 1 euro.

Environmental-friendly cooling: Port-A-Cool evaporative cooler

The world is becoming more sensitive to the term “green” and what it means to our environment and the health of our planet. Many companies are rushing to redefine their products and business practices to “go green”. Some companies, however, have always been green without even trying to be politically correct. It was just the right thing to do. Port-A-Cool, LLC, is one of those companies.

For example, the flagship product for the company is the Port-A-Cool® portable evaporative cooling unit, manufactured in Center, Texas. The unit features a one-piece, rotationally molded plastic housing which is leak and rust proof and produced at the company’s manufacturing facility. The company recycles all scrap plastic from the manufacture of the units, reducing waste and harm to our environment.

In addition, the unit itself uses a cooling method that is environmentally friendly. The ancient Egyptians used the same principles of evaporative cooling to cool their homes by hanging a damp mat in the doorway and allowing the wind to evaporative the water and provide cooling. Port-A-Cool® units utilize the same natural cooling methods, but have implemented state-of-the-art technology to perfect the process, always keeping in mind the company’s commitment to preserving our environment. Port-A-Cool® units use less than a dollar a day in resources to provide air an average of 7-15 degrees celsius cooler than surrounding air. Because the Port-A-Cool® unit uses a natural cooling process, no harmful greenhouse gases, like CO2 expelled from traditional air conditioning systems, are released into the air to harm our ozone layer.

An environmentally friendly process for cooling, coupled with being “green” before “green” was cool. That has always been the “natural” choice for Port-A-Cool, LLC.

For more information, or to locate a distributor near you, call +34- 932 312 810 or Or, you can visit us online at www.lc-europe.com.

What does LEED stand for? Building green in retail

TARPON SPRINGS ­— Think your place is an energy hog? Consider the $26,000 monthly electric bill to run a supermarket.

To corral energy costs in a new Sweetbay Supermarket rising at Alt. U.S. 19 and Meres Boulevard, the Tampa-based chain is installing glass doors over the usually open dairy, beer and deli meat coolers. They're wiring motion sensors that turn on low-power LED lights when a freezer door opens. In the ceiling, 11 air conditioning units gobble a third less juice.

It's all part of a plan to open the first LEED certified supermarket in the Tampa Bay area in November. Created by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings have become the recognized national building benchmark for energy efficiency, conservation and sustainable development practices.

Click here to read further

Source Mark Albright, Times Staff Writer In Print: Sunday, August 16, 2009

C&A and its eco store concept, first BREEAM certificated store in Europe

The German city Mainz is the first city where C&A opened its ecological store, the store has been developed to reduce the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions. The store is the first redeveloped retail property in Europe to be granted BREEAM certification.

The building, with retail floor space of around 6,500 m², will reduce the consumption of electricity with 50% and 70% less energy consumption in heating fuel, furthermore the store is carbon-neutral.

One of the principles underlying the eco-store's energy plan is that the shell of the building needs to be almost completely sealed. In addition, all the windows and display windows have been replaced by insulated glazing units with thermally separated frames. A new vestibule made of insulated glass has been constructed in the entrance area.

The ventilation technology used in the eco-store is completely new. The new system works on the principle of circulating air, and will cut the amount of air entering the building by 75% without reducing air quality. This means that the new ventilation system will use 74% less energy than the old one, and CO2 emissions will as a result be cut by 138 tonnes a year.

The opening of this ECO Store forms part of the international environmental “We C&Are”, presented by the Dutch retailer last year. This program also mentions the new lighting plan that has been introduced in over 200 stores:

Keyword: New Lighting Concept

An environmentally friendly lighting system has been developed in cooperation with the company Philips. In the year 2008 this system was incorporated into around 200 European C&A stores. 150,000 lights have been exchanged. The energy saving compared to conventional systems is 18%.

http://www.c-and-a.com/aboutUs/socialResponsibility/environment/weCare/

The green retailing revolution; five quick steps to greentailing success

At the website Dynamic Business we found an interesting article written by Nina Hendy about green retailing. Topics that are described in this article are Getting behind green retailing, evaluating the cost and time involved in green retailing and five quick steps to ‘greentailing’ success
We refer to the website to read further this article, below we mention the 5 quick steps for greentailing success which are explained further in the article.
Five quick steps for greentailing successWhat steps can a retailer take to move toward a greener business model?
1. Eco-packaging

2. Expanding the green offer

3. Inside the store

4. Decrease your waste

5. Green marketing

Source: ACRS Environmentally Friendly Retailing Secondary Research Report 2008
This article first appeared in the March/April 09 issue of Giftrap, the official magazine of Gift and Homewares Australia (GHA).

100% ECO Hygienic Paper available at the supermarkets of Albert Heijn and Coop (The Netherlands)

Since today the Dutch consumers are able to purchase 100% ECO Hygienic Paper. The first supermarkets in The Netherlands who offer this environmental-friendly product are Albert Heijn and Coop. The assortment these stores offer are toilet paper, kitchen rolls and tissues of the brand NORTH RIVER. The products are the most environmental friendly products of the market. By using the product the Dutch consumers help to improve the environment.

The production of these paper product is realized by recycled wood, there is no chlorine included, 80% less water is used and the production process is realized by 100% sustainable energy.
For more information on these products take a look at the website of Friends Hygiene or contact them by e-mail jan@friendshygiene.nl

Saving energy by using a economical store fachade

The organization for small business retailers (MKB) and the energy center will work together in developing sustainable store fachades. Dutch retailers waste a lot of energy and money by having their stores open. Some examples like cd stores do not even have a facade, this to easily attract new customers, but it costs a lot of energy and money.

The test will advize the concept of separate stores throughout The Netherlands. They do not only make a energy saving plan for the facade but will also look at other points in the store to advize a sustainable and green store.

The storefront

The first impression of the store. The image it projects to the outside world. Managing to find the right balance between surroundings and concept. Transparency to the outside world. Showing who you are. Also has to succeed in getting the consumer to come inside.

Recognisability, attractiveness and quality are the core concepts here. Proper presentation at the design stage is necessary to convince.

Other sites of interests are:

www.jdv-trc.blogspot.com

www.faitraderetail.blogspot.com

www.greensupermarket.blogspot.com

Spanish shoe chain VOGUE LV opens first sustainable store of Galicia

The galician shoe company Calzados Vogue LV opened its first sustainable store in Galicia. This green store reduces almost with 3 tons the emision of CO2.

To achieve this objective they changed all the lighting in the store, using different types of low energy lighting, like the LED lighting (the placement of the LED recudes the consumption of electricity with 40% compared to the other stores).

The creation of the sustainable store was realized by using ecological materials. They used ecological paint and the bambu what is placed on the floor comes from plantations which have been checked. The airconditioning placed is a second hand airconditioning to reduce the level of garbage.

The ecological part of the store is not only limited to the store design, but also includes the shopping process. After their purchases the clients will leave the stores with bags of biodegradable material.

Please check their website for further information on this green store concept. http://www.voguelv.com/

Eco Store Leroy Merlin offers clients environmental-friendly solutions

The French DIY-retailer Leroy Merlin, multinational present in several countries is commited to the environment. The products and service are meant to help the customer to decide for sustainable products when they build or renovate their houses. The customers are taught and motivated to choose an environmental-friendly solution in water and energy consumption and an eco friendly garden.

The aim of Leroy Merlin is to involve customers and to motivate them to choose environmental friendly solutions.

To select the suppliers and products Leroy Merlin uses a IDDEE program (Initiatives for Sustainable Development and Energy Conservation). For over 4.000 products already have replaced former products while the impact of the new products is lower on the environment. Leroy Merlin divides all products in 5 different groups: healthy housing, natural gardening, forest conservation, energy savings and water savings.

The information to the consumers has been improved. Inside th estores of Leroy Merlin and at their website Eco Opciones (Spanish) consumers can check how environmental-friendly their house is and which steps they can take to decorate an environmental-friendly and beautiful house and garden. This sustainable guide can be downloaded via this link: http://www.leroymerlin.es/guias/eco-opciones.htm

After the opening of several Eco Stores, Leroy Merlin also opened their first Eco Store in Spain. The eco-commitment starts entering the store, the signing and sections focus on eco-commitment. There is an organic garden, renewable energies are highlighted and information and special products are given to get a more concerned customer with respect to the environment.
www.leroymerlin.fr
www.leroymerlin.es

The Body Shop has the best Image for sustainable store regarding the Dutch consumers.

Beauty retail chain The Body Shop is the best sustainable retail formula, this is what the Dutch consumers think. The Body Shop is followed by Ikea and Albert Heijn the supermarket chain. DDB and Informart GfK conclude this in their Report Sustainable Retailing. Every 3 months this report describes the situation of green Retailing in The Netherlands.

Within the field of green Retailing the electronics sector gets the highest importante. BCC with their green labeling scores the best in this sector. Fashion stores and DIY-stores do not have a sustainable image yet. Especially in the Dutch DIY-sector we see movements of DIY-stores offering more green options and green information to the consumers.

www.fairtraderetail.blogspot.com

www.greenretailingnews.blogspot.com

The future trends and developments in green packaging

Nielsen did a research on the future of green packaging, some of the main trends and conclusions of this survey are:

90% of “eco-aware”consumers willing to give up the “whole package” for greener options
Clever storage doesn’t stack up against the future of the planet
Almost half of consumers willing to give up convenience packaging
47 percent would give up portable packaging
Shelf-life not so easy to give up
Product information takes precedence
Protective packaging a high priority
Majority of consumers not willing to forego hygiene

The trends and developments in green retailing, in packaging that Nielsen sees are:

Great focus on attracting the attention of the shopper in-store in an increasingly fragmented media environment, via more frequent pack changes:
- Increasing functionality for product transportation and storage, through increasing use of concentrated formulations (for example what we already can see in laundry powders).
- Sustainable packaging with every increasingly reduced environmental impacts, demand by law and driven by retailers and consumers
- Enhanced functionality targeting specific micro-market niches
- Wide use of intelligent packaging with two key uses:
· enable product tracking
· indication of the product contents

Click this link http://th.nielsen.com/site/documents/NielsenGlobalPackagingEnviroReportMar08.pdf to see the full report on global packaging and environmental effects.

Zone Green Retailing companies at Retail Expo (Australia)

The 2009 Retail Expo will include a Green Area with a cluster of exhibiting companies who specialise in environmental solutions for retail businesses.

The 2009 Retail Expo aims to ensure that some of Australia’s most interesting green innovators are at the expo to shed light on this growing category. Switched on Innovations, Carbon Reduction Institute, Chilli Go Green, and Eco Signs are exhibiting products.

Check the website of the Retail Expo for further information.

Mayority of consumers prepared to pay higher prices in green shops.

Sustainability in retail gives retailers big opportunities to obtain customers

Sustainable shopping does not only mean the products consumers buy, but also where they buy. In a research of USP Marketing Consultancy it is shown that 59% of the Dutch consumers is willing to pay more in a shop that is environmental friendly. The Dutch consumers like companies that have energy-friendly installations, innovative sustainable measurements and energy saving products, this all can lead into a higher loyalty and positive effect on the prices.

Long live the LED: From LED lighting to full-service system

Retail Bouw Management A construction agency is an important link in the development of a retail formula. Project agency Retail Bouw Management provides full service.

It does everything it can to support and guide the construction and remodelling of a store, store interior or chain. This executive task is the most visible aspect of the job, but RBM’s role as an advisor is becoming increasingly important. The average retail cannot keep up with the demands, regulations, licenses and innovations in the construction field.

Taking a load off your shoulders We are faced with ever more legislation and regulations for environmental issues, energy, noise pollution, fire safety and associated areas. We can quite safely state that as a construction agency, we take the load of these requirements off our clients’ shoulders. First of all, we know what we need to take into account. Second of all, we anticipate social developments and take care of licenses, applications, etc.

Energy-efficient and environmentally friendly construction

For entrepreneurs, corporate social responsibility goes beyond selling organic meat or non-sweatshop clothing; it’s also about the building, the store and human resource policies. Just like the fashion and marketing sectors, eco is ‘hot’. One of the innovative aspects of our work at the moment is ecologically friendly construction and energy efficient operation.

A hot button issue is chilling of dairy products in stores. These open systems lead to a great deal of energy loss. We are already anticipating new regulations and considering the options together with the retailer and the cooling systems suppliers.

For example, in 2009 we will be working on a chain of supermarkets that operates almost entirely on regained energy. The heat generated by cooling, air-conditioning

and other systems is recaptured and reused.

RBM is at an advanced stage of preparations for a new retail formula where the entire building is built in an environmentally friendly way, with heat recapture, environmentally sound décor and eco-focused product offerings. These are innovative, challenging products

Long live the LED

Lighting energy use is a hot topic. Lighting is crucial for creating the right atmosphere and drawing attention to products within a store; it’s part of the store design. It’s also an expensive element due to the energy consumption.

LEDs are making more and more possible. While more expensive to purchase, the energy consumption is far lower and the lifespan much longer. They also offer new opportunities in terms of function.

Development of the green service station of the future

From Jos de Vries The Retail Company we would like to show our last results from one of our new realized projects in The Netherlands for one of the leaders in the service stations market.

Jos de Vries The Retail Company has developed and realized the concept of the green future store of the latest generation in service stations. The stores focus on fresh and prepared products: wellfare / coffee / bakery / drinks. The open and innovative mentality make it one of the leading formulas in The Netherlands and Europe. The store and gas station are integrated with the nature, using sustainable material and offering environmental friendly service options, like biodiesel and electricity for electric cars.

Please contact us for additional information on this project: (m.vanderkooij@josdevries.eu)

The Canadian retail consulting company Retail Prophet describes in some different articles the theme of sustainability in retail.

"This week Retail Prophet will be featuring a series of special blog posts from the Summer Institute in Sustainability at the University of British Columbia; a one-week intensive program focused on developing organization-wide leadership, strategies and policies around sustainability.

Friend of Retail Prophet and Founder of Walk Softly Communications Justin K. Lacey, will be blogging live from the conference all week with ideas and information to help retailers become leaders in sustainable business practices"

The first article is Sustainability: The Big Difference Small Business Can Make

The second article is Sustainability is the Business Challenge for the 21st Century

Click here to follow the rest of the articles in the upcoming weeks.