Market Watch
Success of Company's First LEED Gold-Certified Store in Austin, TX, Propels Certification for All New Stores Beginning June 2010
Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services, today announced that the Company will pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Commercial Interiors (CI) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for all new Office Depot retail stores, beginning in June 2010. LEED CI is the recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint. Realizing that the Company does not always have control of the building -- especially when occupying an existing site -- Office Depot will make sustainable choices wherever possible and seek LEED CI certification.
Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services, today announced that the Company will pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Commercial Interiors (CI) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for all new Office Depot retail stores, beginning in June 2010. LEED CI is the recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint. Realizing that the Company does not always have control of the building -- especially when occupying an existing site -- Office Depot will make sustainable choices wherever possible and seek LEED CI certification.
"As a retailer with store locations opening around the country, we have a great opportunity to make a difference on the overall environmental footprint of today's businesses," said Chuck Rubin, President of North American Retail for Office Depot. "Office Depot takes that role very seriously and have therefore decided to LEED CI certify all of our new store locations going forward. We are confident that this initiative will benefit our customers, associates, suppliers and other stakeholders."
According to Rubin, 14 new Office Depot store locations will be LEED CI certified, starting with the Company's newest location in Austin, TX, which is scheduled to open in June 2010. At each of these locations, Office Depot will look to mirror the impressive energy and monetary savings seen at Office Depot's first LEED Gold-Certified store in Austin, TX, which opened in April 2008.
"The energy savings realized at our first Austin store location has been even greater than what we had originally expected," said Edward Costa, Vice President of Construction for Office Depot. "We intend to continue to make our stores as energy efficient, water efficient and cost efficient as possible. With LEED CI we are now able to 'green' all of our store locations -- regardless of whether we build it ourselves or take over an existing building."
Office Depot LEED CI Green Store Highlights
Features of all new Office Depot LEED CI certified stores will include:
-- Preferred parking designated for low-emitting, fuel efficient vehicles and carpooling.
-- Skylights (where applicable) will be used to harvest daylight for 90% of the store.
-- Reflective roof which features a membrane that helps to prevent absorption of the heat from the sun and keeps the interior of the store much cooler.
-- Energy Star rated HVAC equipment that exceeds ASHRAE standards.
-- T5 energy-efficient lighting, which is over 30% more efficient than typical retail lighting and will contribute to over 20% reduction in energy use.
-- Daylight and occupancy sensors which reduce energy use.
-- Water conservation interior fixtures, including tankless instant hot water heaters, low flush toilets, low flow urinals, and automatic shutoff sensors in restrooms that will use over 30% less water than the typical facility.
-- Construction waste that will be recycled when waste recycling is available.
-- Construction materials that consist of at least 10% recycled content.
-- Wood, 50% of which will come from well managed forests verified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
-- All interior finishes are made up low VOC emitting materials and finishes.
-- Green Power purchases supplementing electrical use.
-- An Energy Management System that allows tracking of energy usage and trends from one central location.
-- 100% Energy Star rated building equipment and kitchen appliances.
-- Office supplies, technology and furniture featuring a range of green attributes, including recycled content, remanufactured, Energy Star rated and non-toxic.
-- An in-store Recycling Center with environmental solutions including Office Depot Ink and Toner Cartridge Recycling, Tech Recycling Service and Cell Phone and Rechargeable Battery Recycling.
Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot added: "Office Depot has an environmental strategy to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green. By incorporating a leading green building commitment to this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry, and deliver environmental and economic benefits to our company."
About Office Depot
Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,670 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.9 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $15.5 billion, and employs about 49,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 43 countries.
About USGBC
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since USGBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to include more than 13,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org. The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.
According to Rubin, 14 new Office Depot store locations will be LEED CI certified, starting with the Company's newest location in Austin, TX, which is scheduled to open in June 2010. At each of these locations, Office Depot will look to mirror the impressive energy and monetary savings seen at Office Depot's first LEED Gold-Certified store in Austin, TX, which opened in April 2008.
"The energy savings realized at our first Austin store location has been even greater than what we had originally expected," said Edward Costa, Vice President of Construction for Office Depot. "We intend to continue to make our stores as energy efficient, water efficient and cost efficient as possible. With LEED CI we are now able to 'green' all of our store locations -- regardless of whether we build it ourselves or take over an existing building."
Office Depot LEED CI Green Store Highlights
Features of all new Office Depot LEED CI certified stores will include:
-- Preferred parking designated for low-emitting, fuel efficient vehicles and carpooling.
-- Skylights (where applicable) will be used to harvest daylight for 90% of the store.
-- Reflective roof which features a membrane that helps to prevent absorption of the heat from the sun and keeps the interior of the store much cooler.
-- Energy Star rated HVAC equipment that exceeds ASHRAE standards.
-- T5 energy-efficient lighting, which is over 30% more efficient than typical retail lighting and will contribute to over 20% reduction in energy use.
-- Daylight and occupancy sensors which reduce energy use.
-- Water conservation interior fixtures, including tankless instant hot water heaters, low flush toilets, low flow urinals, and automatic shutoff sensors in restrooms that will use over 30% less water than the typical facility.
-- Construction waste that will be recycled when waste recycling is available.
-- Construction materials that consist of at least 10% recycled content.
-- Wood, 50% of which will come from well managed forests verified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
-- All interior finishes are made up low VOC emitting materials and finishes.
-- Green Power purchases supplementing electrical use.
-- An Energy Management System that allows tracking of energy usage and trends from one central location.
-- 100% Energy Star rated building equipment and kitchen appliances.
-- Office supplies, technology and furniture featuring a range of green attributes, including recycled content, remanufactured, Energy Star rated and non-toxic.
-- An in-store Recycling Center with environmental solutions including Office Depot Ink and Toner Cartridge Recycling, Tech Recycling Service and Cell Phone and Rechargeable Battery Recycling.
Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot added: "Office Depot has an environmental strategy to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green. By incorporating a leading green building commitment to this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry, and deliver environmental and economic benefits to our company."
About Office Depot
Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,670 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.9 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $15.5 billion, and employs about 49,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 43 countries.
About USGBC
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since USGBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to include more than 13,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org. The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.
