October 26, 2007—Safeway recently announced a new environmental project to power 23 California stores with renewable solar energy. The company installed solar panels atop a newly renovated Safeway Lifestyle store in Dublin, California, and plans to extend the program to nearly two dozen stores as part of a broader renewable energy initiative.
The entire 55,000-square-foot Dublin facility utilizes renewable energy, including the rooftop solar panel array. The store’s on-site retail fuel station is already powered by wind energy. By using solar energy at the Dublin store, Safeway says it is removing 487,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air.
Solar equipment at the Dublin store and other planned locations will produce approximately 7,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to provide 20 percent of the stores’ average power usage and up to 48 percent of power usage during the peak hours, claims Safeway. The entire 23-store solar program will reportedly remove 10.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the air.
Safeway’s company-wide environmental initiatives include: the use of wind power for its 295 US fuel stations; state-of-the-art refrigeration system technology that is reducing electricity demand at new stores; no-heat freezer case doors that reduce electric heating; the use of LED (Light Emitting Diodes) lights for Safeway’s Lifestyle stores’ exterior lights and signage; and annual recycling of nearly 500,000 tons of plastic, corrugated cardboard, compostable materials, metal, and wood.
For more information about Safeway’s environmental initiatives, visit the company’s Web site (click on “About Us” at the bottom, then “Going Green.”).
