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EPA Recognizes Stop and Shop and Giant Food; Only Supermarkets Receiving 2007 ENERGY STAR Leaders Recognition

Release Date: 02/07/2008
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027, [email protected]

(Quincy, Mass. – Feb. 7, 2008) – The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC, which includes Stop & Shop stores in New England, New York and New Jersey, and Giant Food stores in the Mid-Atlantic, is now recognized as an Energy Star Leader. Stop & Shop is the only company in New England to earn the Leaders recognition in 2007, and Stop & Shop and Giant are the only supermarket chain in the country earning this recognition.

“Stop & Shop is leading the charge to improve energy efficiency across the region,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator for EPA New England. “Better energy efficiency is good for the environment and good for a company’s bottom line. We hope other companies in New England will follow this terrific example.”

Based in Quincy, Mass., the supermarket chain is one of 16 organizations across the nation to receive the award this year in recognition of improvements to building energy performance. Notably, Stop & Shop and Giant have a rating of 90 (out of possible 100) across a portfolio of 552 buildings.

Energy Star Leaders are an elite group of organizations that manage energy strategically across an entire portfolio of buildings using EPA’s standardized measurement tool for tracking building energy use. These select organizations are recognized by the agency for improving the energy performance of their portfolio by ten percent or more. The highest Leaders recognition identifies those organizations with portfolios that perform in the top 25 percent of energy efficiency nationwide based upon the average of the buildings in the portfolio. Stop & Shop is receiving recognition for the superior energy performance of this group of supermarkets.

In August, EPA also awarded Stop & Shop an ENERGY STAR label for its Southbury, Conn., store recognizing the building’s superior energy performance. Energy efficiency measures at this location included: skylights and natural lighting in stores, high-efficiency T5 lighting, refrigeration systems with variable – speed compressors and low-energy glass doors, occupancy sensors, and reflective, insulation roofing.

In addition to leadership on energy efficiency in store operations, Stop & Shop has joined EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership - a voluntary collaboration between EPA and the freight industry to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. Stop & Shop is working to improve the fuel efficiency of its fleet with measures such as automatic engine shutdowns to reduce idling, cab roof fairings, reduced cab/trailer gap to reduce wind resistance, advanced lubricants to reduce drive train friction losses, and longer trailers to carry more product in one trip. Stop & Shop also trains drivers in ways to shift efficiently and avoid idling and is using on-board computer data to give their truck drivers feedback on their fuel efficiency. Stop & Shop’s commitment to the trucking side of its operations is another great example of what companies looking to improve their environmental performance should do.

“We are deeply committed to finding energy conservation and energy efficiency solutions,” stated José Alvarez, Stop & Shop and Giant Food president and CEO. “With 575 Stop & Shop and Giant stores covering more than 33 million square feet and 165 trucks in our Stop & Shop fleet, it is of utmost importance that we constantly work to improve our energy performance. We believe this is the right thing to do not only because these measures help us leave a lasting legacy – a healthy planet – for our children and grandchildren, but they also help our customers today. Our energy conservation and energy efficiency programs help lower our operating costs and in turn we pass these savings on to customers, keeping our prices low.”

Commercial buildings account for almost 18 percent of our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Building owners earn the Energy Star by scoring in the top 25 percent on EPA’s energy performance rating system, which calculates scores based on actual energy use. With interest in energy efficiency growing, ENERGY STAR offers easy-to-use tools and guidelines that can help building owners and managers in the U.S. realize significant energy and dollar savings.

EPA introduced ENERGY STAR in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products, new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Products and buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR designation prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the government. In 2006, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved about $14 billion on their energy bills while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 25 million vehicles.

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, and its sister company, Giant Food of Landover, MD, employ more than 82,000 associates and operate 575 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia .

More information:

- ENERGY STAR: (energystar.gov)
- EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership: (epa.gov/smartway/)
- Energy and New England’s environment: (epa.gov/region1/eco/energy/)

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Contacts:
- Paula Ballentine, U.S. EPA, (617) 918-1027, [email protected]
- Robert Keane, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, (617) 770-6023
- Jamie Miller, Giant Food LLC, (301) 341-8776, [email protected]