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Green Grocer Program Could Use More ‘Green’

With the average monthly electric bill for a 45,000-s.f. supermarket totaling $18,000, any opportunity to save utility dollars is welcome. A program sponsored by the Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA)called Green Grocer could be the answer. The Green Grocer concept grew out of conversations between Brandon Scholz, president and CEO of WGA, and Brett Hulsey, who is president of an energy and environmental firm called Better Environmental Solutions (BES).

When a Wisconsin state legislator had a hankering to introduce a plastic bag ban, Scholz, as the advocate for Wisconsin’s grocers, was prepared to help retailers any way he could—either by fighting the ban or by creating a recycled bag program. Hulsey, with a background that includes serving as the Midwestern director of the Sierra Club and environmental policy advisor to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, was more interested in the bigger picture.

For two months, Hulsey and Scholz worked on a solution to the bag ban issue. Then one day, as Scholz recalls, Hulsey said to him, “This is a lot bigger than plastic bags. You guys, grocery stores, you’re energy hogs.” The Green Grocer program was born.

They made a check-list of items that would make a store more energy efficient and developed talking points. Then they tried to shop the program, but met with little success. It was not until they met with Alliant Energy and its subsidiary Wisconsin Power & Light—that they found the perfect, if temporary, solution. And as it turns out, the utility had been trying for some time to talk to grocers about precisely the same issue, but had found it difficult to get a foot in the door.

“We’re the welcome mat,” Scholz said. “We can make that happen.”After pitching the idea, Alliant believed the program would be a perfect fit for “Shared Savings,” which collects a portion of customers’ utility bills to be used for an energy efficient improvement financing program. Alliant agreed to use SharedSavings funds for 10 WGA member stores. The utility paid the initial cost of high-efficiency equipment and provided low-cost financing for retailers.

WP&L/Alliant is repaid as the retailer pays the monthly utility bill. Terms are typically 2 percent to 3 percent over five years. After the balance is paid off, the retailer continues to realize energy savings. Then the WGA does its part.

A retailer obtains certification after a representative for the Green Grocer program “walks the store” with a checklist of 71 items in hand. The checklist comprises actions in the areas of waste reduction, energy efficiency, water conservation and storm water reduction, clean air and transportation, selling “green” products, landscape and conservation management and community leadership. Offering organic foods for sale counts, landscaping with native plants and mulch, using low-flow fixtures, disposing of fluorescent bulbs properly and replacing exit signs with low energy LED lights. More sophisticated options include using refrigeration case door moisture (anti-sweat) sensors and installing a secondary subcooling loop on refrigeration systems.

Extra points are given for innovative programs. If a grocer has or implements 50 of the items on the checklist, Green Grocer certification is granted. The retailer gets a decal to put on the front door designating it as a Green Grocer. The pilot program has met with great success, but because Alliant only agreed to fund 10 stores the program may end for lack of money once the pilot is complete.

Scholz would like to see an agency or organization step forward to fund the WGA’s Green Grocer program. Money would be used to offer retailers low interest loans to purchase energy efficient equipment for their stores. Ideally it would be modeled after Shared Savings, so that the retailer would not have to spend money up front and could pay back the loan over time at alow interest rate.

The 10 Alliant-funded projects are each in some stage of the program. Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly in Delavan was the first to receive the Wisconsin Grocers Association’s Green Grocer certification.“We are pleased to be the first grocery store in Wisconsin to be Green Grocer certified,” said Mark Stinebrink, co-owner of Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly. “We took many steps, like more efficient refrigerators, lights and motors to save energy and reduce our carbon emissions. We save money that we can pass onto our customers and pass a better community to our children.”

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle chimed in about the program’s success.“Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly and the WGA’s Green Grocer program show that businesses can reduce their costs, emissions and improve service with energy efficiency,” Gov. Doyle said.“This shows one concrete way for Wisconsin to be a leader increasing a green economy.”

Clearly, the program works. “They’re swapping out old compressors, they’re swapping out lighting, they’re swapping out coffin coolers with sliding coolers,” Scholz said. “We didn’t know how this would work. We really didn’t know. We had an idea and a goal, but we didn’t know how successful it would be at the retail level. It just worked.

“The challenge is funding it,” Scholz says. “Money is tight.”With funding, the Green Grocer could help grocery retailers all across Wisconsin, if not across the country, save money on utility bills and show their shoppers that they are environmentally friendly.

For more information, contact Brandon Scholz at brandon@wisconsingrocers.com or (608) 244-7150.

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