Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/109754
The 415,000-square-foot store is heated and cooled by its own geothermal plant, including elements that melt snow and ice at the store entryways and the loading docks. Ikea drilled holes 500 feet deep to install a system of pipes that circulate liquid for regulating store temperatures. Until recent years, geothermal heating systems were limited largely to accessible areas of rock near the earth's surface, but advances in drilling technology are making this renewable energy source more feasible around the world. Geothermal systems extract heat from the ground in winter or channel heat into the ground in summer, and other than the steam they produce, such systems are emissions-free. A Walgreens store that opened in November 2010 in Oak Park, Ill., became the first U.S. drugstore chain to use a geothermal heat-pump system installed 650 feet below ground. This store has additional green features, including an information kiosk that displays the system's realtime energy usage and savings. ConocoPhillips and Texaco use geothermal heat pumps at several of their U.S. convenience stores and gas stations. Britain has emerged as a leader in shopping center geothermal use. Hammerson's 800,000-square-foot West Quay shopping center, in Southampton, England, is heated using geothermal energy from an underground aquifer. And One New Change — Land Securities' 560,000-square-foot retail-office complex in London — also has a geothermal plant. The One New Change system saves some £300,000 (about $470,000) in annual energy costs while also preventing the emission of roughly 350 cubic tons of carbon dioxide per year. "The program is much more than just a bolt-on financial investment based upon payback," said Charlotte Fletcher, the mall's general manager. London mandates that at least 10 percent of the energy consumed by new commercial projects be renewable, and studies showed that geothermal could do that best, she says. This pays off in other ways too. The U.K. offers cash awards to green-minded developers that use geothermal, solar or biomass systems. Because energy costs get passed onto tenants through service charges, savings can get passed along too. "Our tenants benefit from the reductions in energy costs and [these] also make the building more attractive in the marketplace," Fletcher said. The center's low emission rates will provide a buffer from future carbon taxes, she says. "Everything we learn from the system's operation is fed back into the designs for our new developments," Fletcher said. Another notable geothermal-powered center in Europe is the 416,000-square-foot Atrio Shopping Centre, in Villach, Austria — an ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards double winner in 2008. Atrio sits atop 652 geoM ARC H 20 13 / SCT 45