First LEED-Platinum Certified US Market Gives New Meaning To The Phrase "Green Grocer"

If you live anywhere within the vicinity of Augusta, Maine, then you'll probably want to visit Hannaford Supermarket, honored as the greenest in the land as per U.S. Green Building Council standards. It may even end up becoming your favorite home away from home. The 49,000-square-foot food emporium is quite unique in that it is LEED-Platinum certified, uses 40% less energy than conventionally designed grocery stores and 96% of the structure’s materials (plus 99% of its contents) were either reused or recycled! That's incredibly impressive for any construction project, but they went even further on the green scale by recycling practically all of the waste from the project which is almost unheard of. Feast your eyes on the store's additional phenomenally green features:

• in-store recycling
• no reliance on fossil fuels to heat or cool the store
• 41-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system
• 50 skylights
• one dozen solar tubes
• large windows
• transom glass on three walls
• two 750-foot deep geothermal wells
• electrical lighting system uses T8 and T5 high efficiency fixtures and is tied to the daylighting system
• high performance Green Chill refrigeration system uses 50% less energy than conventional systems
• heat is captured from the coolers and used to warm the store
• 7000 square foot roof sown with plants will insulate the store and manage runoff
• almost all the freezers and cold cases have doors, and their interiors are equipped with motion sensor LEDs to limit energy use
• water consumption will be reduced by more than 38 percent via low-flow dual-flush toilets, waterless urinals, low-flow faucets and ice-free cases 
• radiant heating warms the concrete floors in the check-out area/melts snow on the entryway sidewalk
• reflective material on the surface of the parking lot reduces heat-island effects
• green living education programs for shoppers