Price Chopper’s new project to be greenest yet

The Granny Smith apples sold in a new Price Chopper at the Colonie Plaza will be far from the only green thing in the supermarket.

Golub Corp. officials Thursday unveiled plans for what will become the most environmentally friendly supermarket in its 116-store chain. The Rotterdam-based chain recently started construction on the prototype “green” supermarket, which will replace an old Price Chopper at the L-shaped Colonie Plaza on Central Avenue.

“We’re going to try everything in Colonie and we’re going to validate it. It’s right in our backyard,” said Golub Vice President of Engineering and Construction Bill Sweet.

By “everything,” Sweet means that the 69,000-square-foot supermarket will be equipped with a massive, energy-efficient fuel cell capable of generating 60 percent of the power the building needs.

The supermarket will also feature a biohydrator, or “Choppinator,” which will break down seafood, meat and vegetable scraps into wastewater that can be discharged into the store’s storm sewer system. The first Choppinator was tested last year at a Marlborough, Mass., Price Chopper, and it should greatly reduce the amount of waste the chain sends to landfills.

Other green features include colored concrete floors that do not require harsh chemicals for cleaning and skylights for “sun harvesting.” Together, those initiatives and others will make the Colonie Price Chopper the first Leadership in Energy Efficient Design-certified grocery store in the state.

The LEED supermarket announcement is another example of how U.S. supermarket chains are increasingly turning to alternative fuels as they cope with high energy costs.

Golub in 2005 started buying wind power for two Price Choppers in Saratoga Springs. The BJ’s Wholesale Club in Wilton that year installed on its roof a solar electric power system, which can generate up to 20 percent of the store’s needed electricity.

Golub is already planning to take its renewable energy pursuits further. It plans to use food scraps or vegetable oil to produce either electricity from methane or biofuel mixed with diesel for its fleet of 72 tractor-trailers, Sweet said.

“What’s most unusual about this store is that not only will it combine the most modern Price Chopper of the day but for the first time we’re going to combine it with our sustainability efforts,” Sweet said.

The South Windsor, Conn., UTC Power will provide Golub with a 27-by-9-by-10-foot fuel cell, which turns hydrogen from natural gas into energy. The cell will be installed in a rear corner of the supermarket and provide 400 kilowatts of standby power, eliminating the need for the massive mobile generators Golub rolls out during power outages. UTC was founded 50 years ago and initially provided fuel cells for NASA spacecraft.

Golub plans to open the new Colonie store next spring. Various green features in the supermarket will be incorporated in some of the 15 Price Choppers Golub plans to open over the next two to three years.

“We sorta walked into this,” said Tim Herb, the vice president of development at W.P. Realty, the Bryn Mawr, Pa., firm that bought Colonie Plaza in 2006.

When Price Chopper leaves its old space at the 1960s-era shopping center, W.P. will redevelop it to make room for 10 to 15 additional storefronts, consisting mostly of retailers and restaurants. W.P. demolished part of the 138,800-square-foot plaza to make way for Price Chopper’s new space, which will be about 18 percent larger than its old space.

“This will be like a new shopping center,” Herb said.

Since its founding in 1995, W.P. has acquired more than 50 shopping centers, including the Troy Plaza in Troy and the Columbia Plaza in Rensselaer. Colonie Plaza’s existing tenants include TrustCo Bank, Big Lots, a salon, a Chinese restaurant and a coin-operated laundry.

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