The nation’s largest pharmacy chain, Walgreens, has announced its intentions to build the nation’s first self-powered pharmacy.
An artist’s rendering of Walgreens’ first self-powered pharmacy.
It comes as part of Walgreens Net Zero campaign—a green initiative to reduce the company’s energy usage 20% at all of its locations by 2020.
The new store will be built just a bit outside Chicago, in the town of Evanston, IL. It will be built using energy-efficient building materials, feature LED lighting all throughout, and use carbon dioxide refrigerant for heating, cooling, and refrigeration.
To generate power, the store will run off geothermal generators, 800+ solar panels, and two wind turbines to generate power. All in all, engineers guesstimate that the store will generate approximately 256,000 kilowatt hours per year, an amazing feat considering that the average Walgreens store requires just 200,000 kilowatts per hour to run (both numbers fluctuate based on a store’s location, weather, system performance, etc.)
“We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and leading the retail industry in use of green technology,” Thomas Connolly, Walgreens vice president of facilities development, said in a company statement. “We are investing in developing a net-zero store so we can learn the best way to bring these features to our other stores. Because we operate 8,000 stores, we believe our pursuit of green technology can have a significant positive impact on the nation’s environment.”
The company hopes that the new Walgreen store will achieve LEED Platinum status — considered the most stringent green designation by the U.S. Green Building Council. Representatives also plan to enter the building into the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge. For those interested, progress on the store’s development can be followed via Facebook.
Story via: walgreens.com
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