Walgreens to build first Net Zero Energy store north of Chicago

[cybrsage]

The blast furnace type entrance actually works quite well, from what I have read.

 

[cybrsage]

Walgreen's is based in IL (less than 30 minutes from Evanston). I think they are aware it gets cold here.

We know this, but we are talking about engineers...the same people who make it nearly impossible to replace spark plugs without pulling an engine...

 

[CrackRabbit]

Yet those places don't have customer's opening the doors letting the warm or cool air out and being replaced by the extreme conditions on the other side. I'm somewhat optimistic that this will work, just not sure if it will be as efficient as Walgreens/designers estimate.



When all else fails post some asinine response.

It might be some sort of dual system, geothermal is used to regulate and a CO2 based heating/cooling system would take care of extremes.
At least that is what I got from reading the article.

 

[K1052]

We know this, but we are talking about engineers...the same people who make it nearly impossible to replace spark plugs without pulling an engine...

Their facilities people surely know what they need. They build a lot of stores and are continually updating old ones. The whole point of this exercise for them is to try out a bunch of new stuff close to home and see what sticks (saves $). The companies working with them on this are assuredly doing so at cost or below since they are such a huge potential customer (8300 stores) and reference.

 

[Screech]

Maybe they have the double set of doors like a lot of big commercial places do so the room that needs to be heated up more often is much smaller.

That, or a rotary door of some variety, i would imagine.

The question I would have is, do they have a bunch of batteries also installed for when the sun goes down/wind stops etc?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

It might be some sort of dual system, geothermal is used to regulate and a CO2 based heating/cooling system would take care of extremes.
At least that is what I got from reading the article.

It's quite possible, I guess they could have a circulating water system that's receiving thermal transfer from the geothermal source and is passed through coils in the AC/Heating system and the CO2 makes up the difference. Just as someone else mentioned having dual doors would help with heating or cooling losses. They would need a similar door setup on their receiving dock as well.

The proof will be in the pudding once this is online. I suspect it will take a few modifications to perform like the engineers expect. Who knows they make exceed expectations and then again not.

 

[TallBill]

The big walgreens downtown is fucking awesome. Has a sushi chef in it!

 

[Darwin333]

3-17-2013

http://hothardware.com/News/Walgree...-with-Solar-Wind-and-Geothermal-Technologies/

Walgreens To Build First Self-Powered Retail Store with Solar, Wind, and Geothermal Technologies



The company announced plans for the first net zero energy retail store.


The store is slated to be built at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Keeney Street in Evanston, Illinois, where an existing Walgreens is currently being demolished. The technologies Walgreens is plotting to implement in this new super-green store will include solar panels and wind turbines to generate power; geothermal technology for heat; and efficient energy consumption with LED lighting, daylight harvesting, and “ultra-high-efficiency” refrigeration.


What’s truly impressive about this retail store is that it will actually generate more power than it consumes. Engineering estimates suggest that the location will produce 256,000 kilowatt hours per year while using just 200,000.

That is pretty impressive considering its a retail store. OTOH, I would love to see a cost comparison between this build out and a similar sized traditional build out even with all .gov incentives. I am not familiar with Illinois renewable energy incentives, I will look them up when I have some time but a lot of that will qualify for the 30% federal incentives.

 

[Darwin333]

Yeah, what's the ROI?

The estimates are usually way off when they are trying to sell something.

I have never seen "way off" estimates when dealing with any serious and reputable renewable energy company. Hell most states require you to use an industry standard calculator (PVWatts for solar) to base your incentives off of.

That being said, the power usage side might be a "best guess". With so many variables I can see how they could be off but then again thats not my field. Perhaps they have it down to a science as well, it would just seem absurdly hard with all of the variables in my mind.

 

[Darwin333]

The ROI will be being able to sustain our current level of development and technology for more than a few more generations.

Are you happy with that?

Except it is currently impossible for this to truly be rolled out large scale across the country due to our power grid which is what the stimulus should have been spent on. Somehow I don't see us coming up with another trillion bucks to replace it anytime soon, do you?

Without the new grid all the old power stays online because the power companies can't rely on the renewable energy being produced in their baseline calcs.

 

[Darwin333]

Last post for a bit, something that just popped into my head that is of interest....


I don't know where Evanstan is but I do know that Chicago is pretty much the worst place for solar due to their very low average "peak sun hours". The yearly average is pretty darn close to an average of 3 peak sun hours a day.

 

[Screech]

Last post for a bit, something that just popped into my head that is of interest....


I don't know where Evanstan is but I do know that Chicago is pretty much the worst place for solar due to their very low average "peak sun hours". The yearly average is pretty darn close to an average of 3 peak sun hours a day.

This is something that surprised me as well. I would have expected them to try to do this somewhere in the southwest or something like that.

 

[monovillage]

All it means is that someone else (taxpayers) are going to be paying the cost of their energy.

 

[dmcowen674]

All it means is that someone else (taxpayers) are going to be paying the cost of their energy.

Exactly