Hannaford Supermarkets has set a goal to be a greener grocery store with a commitment to 100-percent renewable energy in the next two years. The Scarborough, Maine–based grocer operates 10 stores in New York, including seven in the Mohawk Valley. Those stores are in Herkimer, Utica, New Hartford (2), Clinton, Rome, and Oneonta. “We’ve all got […]
Hannaford Supermarkets has set a goal to be a greener grocery store with a commitment to 100-percent renewable energy in the next two years.
The Scarborough, Maine–based grocer operates 10 stores in New York, including seven in the Mohawk Valley. Those stores are in Herkimer, Utica, New Hartford (2), Clinton, Rome, and Oneonta.
“We’ve all got to do our part,” says George Parmenter, leader of sustainability efforts at Hannaford.
With a need to heat and cool at the same time, supermarkets are energy-intensive businesses. Fortunately, Parmenter says, Hannaford has steps it can take to reduce its energy use.
The company is busy implementing those changes now including LED lights, night shades on open cases, doors on refrigeration/freezer cases, natural-gas ovens and heat, motion-activated lights in freezer cases, efficient refrigeration systems, and even installing rooftop solar panels, which it has in place at 10 of its stores.
“Energy efficiency is really easy to get funded for capital because the payback is so good,” Parmenter notes. Hannaford Energy is rolling out improvements across stores as part of an overall remodel. Some efforts, such as LED lights, have already been installed.
The next phase of the effort will include focusing on moving the distribution network away from fossil fuels, Parmenter says.
Hannaford currently operates at 30 percent renewable energy by partnering with more than 30 community solar projects across New York, Maine, and Massachusetts. Those partnerships are mutually beneficial, according to Parmenter. Many of those community solar projects would not come to fruition without an anchor tenant, which Hannaford serves as, and in return, Hannaford receives its energy from the solar project.
Being green isn’t new to Hannaford. The company was one of the first to introduce reusable bags to its customers in the mid-1980s; opened North America’s first LEED Platinum supermarket in Augusta, Maine in 2009; started using a natural refrigerant in its refrigeration systems in 2013; hosts 163 electric-vehicle charging stations at 31 stores with plans to add more; and achieved zero food waste-to-landfill status in 2021 by donating or diverting all food at risk of going to waste.
Hannaford doesn’t plan on stopping at 100-percent renewable energy either.
“Our company is committed to being a net-zero carbon business by 2040,” Parmenter says.
That process will start with making sure new stores are built for efficiency and converting any process fueled by combustion to a renewable-energy source instead, he says.
“We’re really excited by this first step,” he says of the renewable-energy commitment, and the company is encouraging other companies to get on board.
Hannaford competes with other grocery chains on things like price, he says, but “we want everyone to be as efficient as possible.” Parmenter adds, “We think that customers do care about this.”
Hannaford operates 184 stores in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.