Kicking the (Fossil Fuel) Habit

All across the Northeast, there are signs of change, as businesses and institutions move toward energy independence.

In fact, retailers wary of energy price spikes amidst low-margin competition have been moving in this direction for years. Shaw’s Supermarkets is one prime example: it's mounted energy management programs and installed efficient lights, motors and compressor drives that cost less to run. The results: $3.7 million dollar savings roughly equal to $150 million in grocery sales, and more than 34,000 tons of CO2 a year kept from our atmosphere.  Shaw’s recently opened the nation’s second green supermarket in Worcester, Massachusetts, featuring recycled building materials, many sourced locally. The new store is better insulated, uses less water, and is located near the junction of three bus routes to encourage customers to use public transit.

Shaw's LEED-certified store in Worcester is the company's latest example climate leadership	Skylights are one energy-saving feature at Stop & Shop's Low Energy Superstore

Down the road, their competitor Stop & Shop set out to trim its energy bill. As a result of a process that involved vendors, engineers, and employees, the company built a Low Energy SuperStore in Foxboro, MA that uses 25% less energy than a comparable supermarket. Built within walking distance of a residential area, the store features state-of-the-art display cases, and 48 skylights that make shopping more pleasant.

New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Farm is moving to free itself from unpredictable utility prices, integrating sophisticated controls into their Londonderry plant, home to the state’s largest solar array – itself financed by savings from the company’s earlier energy efficiency efforts.

The Timberland Company, also a NH-based company, installed a bank of photovoltaic solar panels at its headquarters and helped pay for a demonstration unit at the Stratham Cooperative Middle School. In 2002, after a quick pay back on relighting projects, it looked for similar opportunities to save energy and operations dollars in the US, Belgium and the Dominican Republic.  Those efforts eliminate 10,000 tons of CO2 every year.

Left to right: Timberland solar array (with CA-CP's Bob Sheppard, Timberland's Betsy Blaisdell and SolarWork's Gus VanSant); Daylighting in a Timberland warehouse in Europe; Timberland CEO meets Prime Minister Tony Blair at a climate change event

In 2004, the company launched a cash incentive campaign to encourage Timberland employees to buy hybrid vehicles. High MPG drivers and car poolers get their pick of reserved parking spaces. This spring the outdoor-clothing retailer will flick the switch on solar panels at a California distribution center.

Manufacturers like New Hampshire Ball Bearing in Peterborough have also been examining their energy opportunities. In addition to energy-saving retrofits and process changes, have partnered with the state to provide an employee awareness day, featuring discounted compact fluorescent bulbs, hints on saving energy at home, and an up-close look at gasoline/electric hybrids from Honda and Toyota.

State and local governments in the Northeast have also gotten into this issue: The State of Connecticut, for example, has formulated one of the most detailed and forward-looking climate action plans on the books anywhere. 

The City of Stamford, Connecticut, is likewise a recognized leader in efforts to reduce GHGs, committing to a plan of action and working in areas from transportation, green buildings and policies, to alternative energy, to combat the threat of global warming.

Connecticut manufacturers like Pfizer and UTC, acting on pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut energy use in the processes.  Pfizer walked the walk with a LEED-standard facility, while UTC manufactures a range of energy efficient engines and equipment.

Connecticut isn't the only state to nurture smart energy choices: In 2004, Maine announced the launch of the state's Carbon Challenge, in which corporations and other entities are invited to join in the solution to global warming in Maine. The City of Portland was the first Maine municipality to join; in spring of 2006 the City also hosted the second in a series of roundtable meetings, bringing together businesses, community groups and institutions and representatives of city government to help formulate a plan for reducing Portland’s GHGs by 10 percent by 2010. 

One Portland company, Oakhurst Dairy, has taken a number of steps to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce their energy bills.  One of the first corporations to sign on to the Carbon Challenge, Oakhurst is active in support of regional efforts to cap and trade carbon emissions, having gone on the record with Governors King and Baldacci.

Working with CA-CP, the firm completed an inventory of its GHG emissions, and implemented a range of energy saving projects as part of a multi-million dollar expansion of their Forest Avenue processing plant last year. Oakhurst also replaced high-mileage vehicles driven by its sales and marketing executives with gasoline/electric hybrid versions of the Ford Escape, which are already saving the company money while reducing tailpipe emissions.

In South Portland, Fairchild Semiconductor has also committed to a corporate-wide evaluation of GHG emissions, as part of its participation in the Maine Carbon Challenge and the US EPA’s Climate Leader program. 

The message: The roster of leadership is getting longer every day: Call it energy independence, sustainability or just plain Yankee ingenuity, the conservation bottom line is part of the business bottom line, and a growing number of leading northeast businesses are no longer waiting for signals from Washington to begin reducing energy consumption and saving money. 

Case Studies

CA-CP has compiled a series of case studies on what some of the best businesses are doing to reduce emissions in the Northeast.