Los Angeles, CA (April 2011) – Following its core value of “caring for our communities and our environment,” Whole Foods Market’s Venice, CA store was recently awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), making it the third Whole Foods Market in Southern California to earn such a distinction.
Whole Foods Market Venice, located at 225 Lincoln Blvd. at Rose, earned credits for its LEED certification from a variety of sustainable features, including ”cool” materials on the store’s roof that reflect the sun’s rays and deflect heat, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, building materials made from recycled materials, as well as for its location in an environmentally-conscious neighborhood within walking distance of at least 10 community services, encouraging pedestrian access. The Venice store has also taken measures to enhance the ventilation rates inside the store beyond the national ASHRAE-62.1 Standard.
“Whole Foods Market is very excited to be awarded LEED certification. By building to the USGBC’s standards, we are doing our part to help reduce the impact and benefit the health of our environment, just as we do with the products we sell and the communities we support,” said Dave Aebersold, Whole Foods Market Venice store team leader. “We have a strong commitment to creating a more eco-friendly working and shopping environment for the Venice community. Attaining LEED certification is another step in this direction.”
According to the USGBC, commercial buildings in the U.S. consume exorbitant amounts of energy and resources – more than 30 percent of the nation’s total energy and 60 percent of our electricity annually. Whole Foods Market is a prominent supporter of green energy and has offset the electricity used in all of its North American stores with renewable energy credits.
The Venice location, along with the company’s El Segundo and Tustin stores, join other Whole Foods Market locations across the country in receiving the LEED certification. Whole Foods Market’s store in Sarasota, Florida, received Silver LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the first-ever environmentally-friendly supermarket designed in accordance with the LEED Green Building Rating System. The flagship store in Austin, Texas, is also LEED-certified, and the South Loop store in Chicago, along with the Upper West Side store in New York City, the Lake Grove store on Long Island, New York and the Darien and Milford stores in Connecticut all earned Gold Certification. Additionally, the company has more than 20 stores registered to become LEED-certified, with more in development. Whole Foods Market has also developed internal/minimum green building standards following the USGBC/LEED program.
