Walmart Experimental Supercenter (Aurora, Colorado)

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This experimental supercenter, as well as other similar stores in McKinney, TX and Las Vegas, NV, was built to test green technology as a way to help lower operation costs and the impact a store has on the environment. The foundation was made from recycled runway from the nearby, and now dismantled, Stapleton Airport. It has large windows in the roof, which was specially designed, allow for passive solar lighting an heating as well as a large solar array for power and heating. The radiant floor heating is heated using waste heat from the refrigeration system as well as waste oil from the Deli and Lube center. The lighting system uses low-energy florescent bulbs running at daylight color temperature and LEDs in the frozen food and produce cabinets. In combination with the windows and an intelligent lighting control system, the store needs fewer than half the amount of lights typically needed for a store this size. The HVAC system uses two main technologies, radiant floor heating as well as fabric duct piping allowing for even air delivery. This allows it to maintain a store wide average of 62 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit without hot or cool spots. It also has a 50Kw wind turbine on site that will supply approximately 1.25% of the stores energy needs. It uses pervious pavement, a type of water permeable concrete/asphalt mix, in a section of it's parking lot along with a bioswale composed of plants and shrubs to filter water runoff from the remaining parking lot. Currently Walmart has contracted NREL to provide monitoring and research for the store and to build case studies to be used for future stores and buildings.

For more information visit: www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/cp/foodexpo... (Warning PDF)