High Performance Buildings deliver

Increased Retail Sales

Buildings consume 40 percent of the world's total energy, 25 percent of wood harvest, and 16 percent of water consumption, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development.

But only 2 percent of the 30-year costs of a building are in its initial construction -- another 6 percent is expended on operations and maintenance and the remaining 92 percent is spent on the people who work there. A one percent savings in personnel costs could justify increased construction cost for an improved working environment.

In a study prepared by the Heschong Mahone Group, published August 20, 1999, to be a part of PG&E's Daylighting Initiative, sales performance in 108 stores were compared. Two-thirds had daylighting, one third did not. Monthly gross sales per store were averaged over an 18-month period.

Statistical analysis was used to control for the influence of other variables. Skylighting had largest impact of five factors (skylighting, number of hours open per week, population of zip code, average income of zip code and number of years since store remodeled) boosting sales index by average of 40%. E.g., if non-daylit store had sales of $2.00/s.f., sales could be expected to increase to between $2.61 and $2.98/s.f.

• Sales performance in 108 stores were compared.
• Two-thirds had daylighting, one third did not.
• Skylighting boosted sales by an average of 40%.

Heschong Mahone Group, Skylighting and Retail Sales, Aug. 20, 1999

Target, Fullerton, CA

The 102,000 s.f. store combined the standard five-step Energy Star upgrade with extensive daylighting to achieve a 24 percent energy reduction with a five-year payback. Daylighting included forty sun-tracking skylights with diffusing lenses that look like normal electric light fixtures from the sales area. The checkout area has four fixed skylights. The center of store and jewelry counter have Fresnel or prismatic lenses to diffuse light and prevent harsh direct sun. Interior electric lights have dimmable ballasts to gain maximum benefit from skylights.

Wal-Mart, City of Industry, CA

This building uses half the energy of a typical new California store. It has advanced lighting with dimming controls and an efficient and down-sized HVAC system. In place of opaque roofing materials, the store has an 18 KW photovoltaic canopy. Wal-Mart installed 180 skylights taking up about 5% of roof's 120,000 s.f. surface (142 4'x8' fiberglass diffusing, 12 tracking). Energy savings are $75,000 to $80,000 per year with a 3 year payback. Skylighting was used because of the stunning success of the prototype "Eco-Mart."

J. J. Romm, Cool Companies -- How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1999, Island Press, Washington, D.C. & Covelo, CA; GREENING THE BUILDING AND THE BOTTOM LINE: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design By: Joseph J. Romm and William D. Browning

Wal-Mart Eco-Mart, Lawrence, KA

The store opened in 1993. The design team was led by Wal-Mart's own Environment Committee, BSW Architects (Tulsa, OK), and Rocky Mountain Institute. The building has a glazed entry arch for daylighting, efficient lighting system and a light monitor developed for this project. To save money, Wal-Mart cut the number of skylights by half, locating them in one half the building rather than spreading them out. With cash registers connected real time to the Arkansas headquarters for "just-in-time" stocking, they found "that the sales pressure (sales per square foot) was significantly higher for those departments located in the daylit half of the store" and were higher than the same departments in other stores.

J. J. Romm, Cool Companies -- How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1999, Island Press, Washington, D.C. & Covelo, CA

When originally built in the 1970s and 80s, design goals were to conform to building codes and to display food. In the early 1990s, when Larry's Markets were facing rate hikes and energy bills of half a million dollars, they conducted energy audits to see where some of these costs could be cut. Since then, energy-saving measures have been incorporated, upgrading four of the five stores, a total of 270,000 square feet.

Forty-watt T-12 lamps with standard magnetic ballasts were converted to 32-watt T-8 lamps with electronic ballasts. Incandescent lamps were replaced with compact fluorescents. Skylights in some stores made daylighting an alternative, and dimmers were installed to achieve optimum light levels. Timed controls were also installed to minimize energy used to light areas at night. Reflectors replaced lamps in refrigerated cases, allowing them to stay cool more efficiently, and occupancy sensors shut lights off when rooms or areas are not in use.

Larry's Markets upgraded HVAC systems also. Direct digital controls provide time delay, night setback, and humidity regulation. The frozen food display cases in the stores have anti-sweat humidity controls, which reduce heater use by half; and an air-to-air heat exchanger pre-cools refrigeration system air. The stores also feature CFC- and HCFC-free refrigeration.

Conservation and efficiency occurs in every department of each store, sometimes requiring investments yielding no monetary return. Corporate staff wants employees to conserve energy because they want to, not just because it's store policy. So Larry's trains their 800 employees in energy efficiency and conservation.

Benefits:

Savings passed on to customers at Staples Incorporated, Seattle, Washington

As described in the Green Lights case study, "When Staples upgraded one of its warehouses to T8 lamps, employee noticed the higher quality lighting and brighter atmosphere. Customers have remarked on the pleasing shopping environment in the upgraded stores, and also credit Staples with doing the right thing for the environment."

Benefits of the $3.1 million spent in energy efficiency upgrades are:

• savings -- $985,425/year -- 3.15 year payback -- 29.3% internal rate of return
• store is more competitive by passing savings on to customers in lower prices

New lights and mechanical equipment turns into more sales at Vic's Market, Sacramento, California

In late 1993, a SMUD energy specialist worked with lighting 45contractors to replace old lighting in Vic's Market. With accompanying reflectors, the new 4-ft. high-output, T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts increased light levels by 20 percent but lowered electricity bills by $1,800 a month. Next a new, 80-foot row of enclosed freezers replaced 80 feet of open multideck freezers making customers happy. Last improvement was a replacement of the compressor room and purchase of new deli, meat and freezer cases. This helped to nearly phase out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) entirely.

More specifically, Vic's Market now takes in 15 percent more in sales than it did before the upgrade.

Benefits:

• 15% increase in sales
• annual cash savings of $38,237.00 with a 3 year payback
• annual energy savings of 364,000 kWh
• 366,073 pounds of pollution prevented

The Richmond store was completed in 1975, almost two years after the OPEC oil embargo that marked the dawn of today's era of energy awareness. Recognizing the likelihood of future cost increases, the store opted for 175W mercury vapor lamps. Then, just a few years later, improved color fluorescent lamps were introduced. The mercury vapor lamps were placed with 800 new luminaires.

"The new fluorescents we used produce a color that we think is even superior to daylight," according to Dr. Robert Young, Thalhimers' vice president of properties at the time. Light levels were reduced from 50fc to 35fc on display racks. The total cost of installation was $48,000.

Benefits:

National Lighting Bureau -- www.nlb.org/publications/csh_better.html

Inadequate parking lot lighting prompted mall manager to survey shoppers to determine what they liked and disliked about the lighting at Fairmont and other centers they patronized. Based on survey results, management then installed a metal halide outdoor lighting system. Energy was not an issue. Payback on energy savings would have had 100+ year payback. However, improved lighting provided the following benefits:

• $90,000 in additional rents
• $2.5 million in increased sales
• cut back on security patrols saves $5,000/year
• faster snow removal saves $7,500/year

National Lighting Bureau -- www.nlb.org/publications/csh_better.html

"High benefit lighting" retrofit of 318,000 s.f. distribution center. Cost $176,806. Benefits:

• increased sales worth $50,000 per year because of better lighting
• 1% productivity increase (estimate) -- $35,000/year
• fewer worker errors -- $1,800 annually
• increased safety -- savings in time and insurance premiums of $1,000/year
• O&M cost savings of $14,746 per year
• total annual savings -- $102,546 -- payback 1.7 years -- SROI -- 58%

National Lighting Bureau -- www.nlb.org/publications/csh_warehouse.html