by jbs050609 c3 — May 8, 2009—Kohl’s Department Stores recently announced that 110 additional Kohl’s stores earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star label, and that its new store prototype is the first specialty department store to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) initial certification at the Silver level by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
The 110 newly recognized stores bring the company’s total Energy Star-labeled buildings to 219. Kohl’s reached its first Energy Star milestone in July 2008 when the company’s first 50 stores received the label. This marked the largest grouping of non-supermarket retail stores to receive the label in Energy Star history.
Features of Kohl’s Energy Star-labeled stores include centralized energy management systems, occupancy sensor lighting, and high-efficiency lighting, heating, and cooling systems.
In addition to initial certification of Kohl’s new store prototype at the Silver level, the USGBC certified two Kohl’s stores at the Silver level and one store at the Certified level that were built according to the new prototype. These three stores are Kohl’s first to earn LEED certification. Sixty additional stores constructed using the new store prototype, which was first used for new Kohl’s stores in fall 2008, are expected to receive certification in the coming months.
Characteristics of Kohl’s LEED new store prototype and stores constructed according to it include on-site recycling, water-efficient landscaping, regionally sourced building materials, and construction activity pollution prevention.
