On behalf of all our Team Members, we are delighted to have the opportunity to serve you. Welcome to your store!

LEED

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization composed of leaders from across the building industry working to advance buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. Driving its mission to transform the built environment is the Council's LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System^TM.  LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED CI) addresses the specifics of tenant spaces primarily in office, retail and institutional buildings.  Whole Foods Market, Southern Pacific Region recently established a goal to pursue LEED CI certification for its new stores.

LEED is a point based system where projects earn LEED points for satisfying specific green building criteria. Within each of the six LEED credit categories, projects must satisfy particular prerequisites and earn points. The six categories include:

Sustainable Sites

• Water Efficiency
• Energy & Atmosphere
• Materials & Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation in Design (projects can earn ID points for green building innovations)

The WFM Arroyo Store has incorporated the following LEED criteria:

Sustainable Sites

• The store's roof uses "cool" materials that reflect the sun's rays and deflect the heat absorbed by typical dark-colored roofs.

Water Efficiencies

• The plumbing fixtures in the bathrooms are considered "low flow" - they reduce water consumption by more than 40% as compared to conventional fixtures.
• o For example, the urinals in the men's bathroom require only 0.5 gallons per flush instead of the typical 1.0 gallons.

Energy & Atmosphere

• The store's highly efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) systems are free of ozone depleting CFC-based refrigerants.
• Skylights are located throughout the store to minimize the amount of electric lighting needed.
• A majority of the kitchen and office appliances in the store (computers, refrigerators, etc) are Energy Star^TM rated.
• Whole Foods Market is a prominent supporter of Green Power and has worked with Renewable Choice Energy to purchase renewable energy credits to offset the electricity used in this store.

Materials & Resources

• Whole Foods employee and customers are encouraged to recycle and compost whenever possible. Receptacles are widely accessible throughout the store.
• Over 60% of the waste generated during the construction of this store was diverted from the landfill, and instead sent to a recycling facility.
• Many materials in the store contain recycled content and/or were manufactured locally.
• For example, the tile used in the Seafood area is from Oceanside Glasstile, a San Diego-based company that uses, among other things, bottles from curbside recycling programs, to create their product.  
• Some of the decorative wall hangings are made of Sorghum waste scraps, which would have otherwise been incinerated.
• A significant amount of wood in this store was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The Forest Stewardship Council ensures that forests are sustainably managed. Please visit www.fscus.org for more details on FSC certification.

Indoor Environmental Quality

• Paints, coatings, adhesives and sealants throughout the store where chosen for their low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content. Low VOC products are less toxic than their conventional counterparts.
• The store has implemented a green housekeeping plan in order to ensure that the janitorial practices and products used are safe for the environment as well as the occupants of the building.

Want to learn more?

LEED certification is available for all building types including new construction and major renovation; existing buildings; commercial interiors; core & shell; schools and homes. LEED systems for neighborhood development and retail are currently in pilot test and a rating system for healthcare is currently under development and will begin pilot testing in 2008. To date, there is over 3 billion square feet of construction space involved with the LEED system.   Discover the benefits of green building today!

 To learn more about LEED and the US Green Building Council visit: www.usgbc.org