The Green Shopping Center

A shopping center can employ the same sustainable building design concepts that any other type of building uses. These would include, without limitation:

• Rooftop HVAC units using full outdoor air economizers to reduce the need for cooling when outdoor air is cool.
• Solar and wind power to help meet its energy needs.
• Regenerating heat from the refrigeration racks.
• Radiant floor heating.
• Burning waste-recycled cooking and motor oil to heat water.
• LEDs (light-emitting diodes) instead of incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs.
• Green roofs with drought-resistant vegetation.
• Reusing treated water, captured from rooftops and parking lots, for irrigation purposes.
• Use of reflective roofs.
• Use of low VOCs such as those found in sealants, paints and furniture.
• Minimization of light pollution with exterior wall-mounted fixtures in the parking lots to promote “dark-sky” and minimize upward lighting.
• Addition of a heat exchanger to minimize spring and winter cooling requirements from the chiller and the inclusion of a system of water flowing from the cooling tower back into the chiller, converting it into chilled water.
• Commissioning and re-commissioning of all systems.
• The use of BAS, which turns off equipment during low load and unoccupied times.
• Using indoor photocells connected to the lighting control systems so that the lights turn off when the natural light level exceeds a base level.
• Individual tenant-controlled HVAC units.
• Green cleaning.
• Green pest control.
• Automatic flush urinals, toilets, sinks.
• LED digital screens with shopping center maps to avoid the printing of paper.

Benefits