Global Warming- What can a grocer do? When you look onto the electrical grid for a standard urban or suburban grid, the most energy intensive business, per square foot, tends to be the supermarket. Refrigerated and frozen foods and beverages, plus all the air conditioning to keep it "comfortable" for the shopper's experience, drive the demand for electricity. A supermarket is an energy hog. In fact, the more fresh and convenient the offerings- the greater the energy intensity. Consider that 73% of the current grid's supply comes from "brown" energy sources: coal, natural gas, and petroleum. In one way or another, that demand creates greenhouse gas emissions from these brown sources- so the grocer has a particularly profound position in the "energy" marketplace, and an opportunity to move toward the green options available. Decrease energy demand per unit of output. Supply green energy: wind, biomass, photovoltaics (PV), small hydro. Create a green audit to verify authenticity of your claims. Sequester carbon at a greater rate than you emit carbon.
Decrease energy demand per unit of output. - Reduce demand by monitoring your purchases, especially that of perishables, to reduce green waste, often called "shrink." - Make trash a controllable expense, and reduce it by 50% within the first year. - Create the best energy-efficient operation you can. Account for energy use: keep track of kWh/$ sales; or kWh/$ of perishables sold. - Think in terms of "nega-watts"- how to get the same amount of output with less energy used- where can you save? - It's also advantageous to look at the "total time-and-motion" flow of work-done, and the flows within, and sometimes getting out of the building. What is a more efficient flow for the work-done? If produce creates the majority of compostables, shouldn't the whole back end flow be oriented to helping produce (and then deli, bakery, or prepared foods)? Less time-and-motion should equate to less energy demand also. - Look into freight efficiency, especially anything that might increase freight-intensity: e.g. less than truckload purchase of high-volume items; "fresh" foods shipped very long distances; all refrigerated and frozen foods- how far, and in what quantity, did they travel? Freight-intensity can be calculated as a percentage of the cost-of-goods sold.
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Supply green energy: wind, biomass, photovoltaics (PV), small hydro. - Purchase green energy, usually at some small premium- sometimes from your current utility (in regulated markets), sometimes from a broker (in more deregulated markets). - Look into how PV (photovoltaic) might help offset some of the store's energy demand during the day. Can a small PV array be used to create "emergency energy" through a battery pack system? Look for rebate and grant monies from utilities or government. - Think in terms of "nega-watts"- how to get the same amount of output with less energy used -- where can you save? (supply nega-watts ?! ) - Can your trucking fleet convert to bio-diesel and/or vegetable oil fuel?
Create a green audit to verify authenticity of your claims. - To keep operations more 'common' with your store, keep a trash audit available, and see if you can have a green energy audit --and these services can be provided -- they range from a school project, to a utility representative's visit, to a govt. agency, to a private sector "third-party" certifiers of your "green" claims. This "common" nomenclature and green accounting is even more essential at the chain level- so as employees and team members move within the organization they do not need to be retrained on the 'commons'. - The store or facility has a metabolism. There are business metabolism models available from the private sector. - You can keep track of the store's inputs, outputs, and throughputs. That information will help you plan and budget better.
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Sequester carbon at a greater rate than you emit carbon. "Carbon sequestration" is the term given to a family of methods for removing carbon gases from the exhausts of power plants or from the air itself, then securely storing the gases in geologic formations, in soils and vegetation, or in a variety of other environmentally safe forms. - Some of the green-waste management operations can make a difference. e.g. Carbon can be sequestered by composting, when the compost becomes soil amendment. So the key is to work with your vendors: - Support sustainable fisheries. Experts say oceans are the best option for carbon sequestration -- being 80% of the biomass on the planet. Iron-enriched oceans would grow algae, which will sequester more carbon. - Support sustainable agriculture. Work with farmers and ranchers to adopt certain management strategies to increase the amount of plant cover on agricultural lands and improve soil fertility. - One idea is to persuade greenhouse-gas producers to offset their emissions by paying farmers to sequester carbon for them, creating a market to allow buyers and sellers to trade in such carbon indulgences. The first step towards creating such an exchange was taken late in 2003 with the purchase of 6m carbon-emission reduction credits, or CERCs, by a consortium of ten Canadian regional power utilities. - The immediate beneficiaries of this deal are 100 Iowan farmers who will be paid up to $3 an acre to sequester carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. - Farming practices that increase soil organic carbon -- including cover crops, crop rotations, manure and compost applications, residue management, and conservation tillage -- can make a significant contribution to carbon sequestration, thereby slowing the rate of climate change. Finally -- plant a tree, lots of them if you can!
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