Groceries getting greener

Grocery chains are installing new technology to cut energy use.
LOVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- Grocery shoppers at the new Kroger Co. store in this eastern Cincinnati suburb are bathed in sunlight, from rows of 75 skylights.
It's the most noticeable among many features aimed at reducing energy use by the nation's largest traditional grocery store chain. The highly competitive grocery business -- including leaders such as Kroger, Wal-Mart Stores and Tesco PLC -- is getting greener as companies search for ways to cut costs and keep prices down.
The Kroger store also has compact fluorescent lights that require less electricity and last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs. Motion detectors help shut off lights when areas are vacated. The store recycles exhaust to heat water, uses more-efficient plastic fans instead of metal ones, and has concrete floors that can be cleaned with water instead of chemical cleaners used for tile.
"Given our size, we have a certain amount of responsibility to the environment and to being a good citizen," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's vice chairman. "We take everything we save with the energy reductions and we reinvest it with the customer ... in lower prices or in improved service."
Environmentalists taking stock of corporate America before annual Earth Day activities Sunday say there has been some progress in recent years. Many companies, including giants such as General Electric Co., General Motors Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., have started campaigns to become more energy-efficient.
Why stores do it
Businesses are responding to increasing public concern about global warming, energy costs and dependence because it makes financial and marketing sense, environmentalists say.
"They're not taking risks; they're responding to market perceptions," said Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. "Are they in it for the good of mankind? Absolutely not; they're in it for the money."
Dave Hamilton, director of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program, said grocers, with many power needs such as refrigeration, can help their images while saving money.
"Kroger and Wal-Mart and others who are making these changes are definitely winning on the bottom line as well as starting to have something to show customers that they are doing the things we need to do," Hamilton said. He said the chains have also increased organic food offerings because of customer demand.
Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion LLC, subsidiary of the Brussels, Belgium-based Delhaize Group, has been an industry leader in cutting use since targeting energy costs consuming 7 percent to 10 percent of its operating costs nearly a decade ago.
Food Lion spokeswoman Kimberly Blackburn said the chain had been looking for ways to reduce overhead so it could keep prices down, and decided to partner with the federal Environmental Protection Agency in a program.
Among technologies Food Lion has adopted are demand control systems that reduce energy during nonpeak times, heat reclamation, more-efficient refrigeration and automated lighting. Food Lion says it has cut energy use 27 percent for its 1,300 supermarkets.
Kroger, which had 66 billion in 2006 revenues, says energy consumption is down 20 percent since 2000. Company officials say it's hard to state a total financial savings because energy prices have been rising but estimate it at tens of millions of dollars.
"It's a critical cost element that they still have some room to improve upon," said Craig Hutson, an analyst at the corporate bond research firm Gimme Credit. "In an environment where it's intensely competitive from a pricing standpoint, whatever you can do on costs is going to help you generate profits."