Beyond Ice Cold

Duanesburg, New York, might not be the epicenter of cutting-edge green design, but the Hannaford Bros. Supermarket built there in 2009 is mean, green, and oh-so progressive. The LEED Gold-certified building was based on a 35,000-square-foot prototype that incorporates the strategies of Hannaford’s LEED Platinum store in Augusta, Maine. The design team took the Augusta store’s best elements and brought them to Duanesburg, along with new features such as a solar-reflective roof.

In the Energy Performance category for LEED-NC structures, ten points are possible and the Hannaford Energy Services team couldn’t be more proud that the Duanesburg store scored ten out of ten. “It’s a real point of pride,” says George Parmenter, Hannaford’s manager of sustainability. “Supermarkets use a tremendous amount of energy because they’re constantly freezing or cooling items. It was our goal from the start to make this store as energy-efficient as possible.”

According to the EPA, most of the supermarkets in the United States use centralized–direction-expansion systems to chill their products. These refrigeration systems are not only charged with up to 4,000 pounds of refrigerant, but they also leak 20 percent of their charge each year, causing potent greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere. Hannaford’s Duanesburg store uses an advanced refrigeration system that reduces emissions of ozone-depleting substances, helps protect the ozone layer, protects against global warming, and produces reduced refrigerant charges. Coupled with high-efficiency lighting, including motion-sensitive LED lights on refrigerated cases, the Duanesburg store is a next-generation supermarket.

Most innovative is the design team’s strategy to drastically reduce water use. Seafood cases, according to Parmenter, are filled daily with chipped ice, a process that already requires large amounts of water and energy. At the end of the day, though, equally large amounts of hot water are used to melt the ice. This wasteful process takes place every day. By opting to use iceless seafood cases, the Duanesburg store is able to reduce its water use by up to 40 percent. The store employs two different types of iceless cases, Barker’s Model PSG and Model PTD, both of which utilize patented technology. The cases run off the refrigeration rack just like other types of cases, but what makes these unique is their self-contained pumps, which send glycol through tubes on the underside of the shelves, keeping the product at a consistent cool temperature—kind of like how radiant systems heat flooring.

Many of the materials used in the Duanesburg store were harvested and manufactured within 300 miles of the store’s location, including the interior wall framing, which came from Boonton, New Jersey. Not only does the use of local materials support the local economy, but it also reduces the harmful environmental impacts of long-distance transport—and earns LEED points. The design team also prioritized recycled materials, everything from nuts and bolts to roof hatching and the snow-retention system, which is made of 70 percent post-consumer recycled content. A portion of the building’s steel has 97 percent pre-consumer recycled content.

More than 50 skylights adorn the roof of the supermarket, maximizing natural light and minimizing the amount of electricity required to brighten the space.