FoodLogistics.com |

Pleasanton, CA: Retail grocer Safeway has just installed an array of 1,000 solar panels on the rooftop of its Dublin boulevard store. They were installed by SunTechnics, a Sacramento company, for the developer of the project, Solar Power Partners Inc. of Mill Valley, CA. “The panels are generating electricity on a trial basis and will power the Safeway store in full in a few days," says Safeway spokeswoman Teena Massingill.

By using solar energy at the Dublin store, Safeway aims to remove around 487,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air, the equivalent of taking fifty passenger cars off the road annually or planting 184 acres of pine trees.

Safeway plans to extend the program to 22 additional stores, as part of a broader renewable energy initiative. All told, the 23 stores will produce around 7,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to provide twenty percent of the stores' average power usage. Their goal is to remove 10.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the air, the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road annually or planting 4,000 acres of pine trees.