Aug 27 2013
Sears Holdings Corporation has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings, which is designed to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment.
Sears Holdings entered 122 Sears and Kmart stores that will battle it out against thousands of other teams representing buildings across the country. All efforts will be focused on eliminating waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from the EPA's ENERGY STAR program.
"Sears Holdings is honored to be a part of the EPA's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition for the fourth consecutive year," said David Rich, vice president of Retail Operations. "This year, we are dramatically increasing the number of facilities which we have entered into the competition and are looking to take our energy management program to the next level."
The company has realized significant savings as a result of its previous entries into the Battle of the Buildings contest and three of our Kmart stores finished in the Top 15 Overall in the 2012 competition. Specific highlights include:
- Kmart in Gillette, Wyo. (store #4863) in 2012 finished sixth place overall, first place in the Big Box Retail category and second place in the general Retailer category
- Sears in Glen Burnie, Md. (store #1013) in 2010 finished in second place with an astounding 31 percent energy reduction
- Sears Grand in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (store #1822) in 2011 reduced energy consumption by 20 percent
The competitors in the 2013 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition represent more than 25 different types of commercial buildings — such as retail stores, schools, hotels, and museums — and hail from all 50 states, two U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. More than 100 competing buildings are over 100 years old.
The EPA will maintain a website devoted to the competition, featuring a list of the competitors and their ongoing results, a live Twitter feed where competitors will post updates on their progress, and a user-generated photo stream where competitors will upload pictures of their energy-saving efforts.
"Thousands of buildings across the country are going on energy diets with help from the EPA and ENERGY STAR," said Jean Lupinacci, director of EPA's ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings Program. "Organizations like those competing in this year's National Building Competition are taking a bold step by putting themselves in the spotlight as they compete to protect the environment and save as much energy as possible."
Competitors will measure and track their building's monthly energy consumption using the EPA's ENERGY STAR online tracking tool, Portfolio Manager; make improvements to their building's energy performance; and share their progress. Among the more than 3,200 competitors this year, the building or tenant space that demonstrates the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy use intensity will be recognized as the winner in April 2014.
According to EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and energy use at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with the EPA's ENERGY STAR program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere each year. As an organization, SHC has reduced our electricity use by more than 1 billion kWh over the last six years. We have accomplished this through lighting retrofits, installing motion and occupancy sensors, and improving the HVAC equipment efficiency.
Watch the battle unfold: www.energystar.gov/BattleOfTheBuildings
For more information on Sears Holdings' environmental sustainability initiatives, visit: https://transformco.com/corporate-responsibility/environmental-sustainability?/sustainability or follow us on Twitter @EnviroSears.