Boulder Colorado: REI's Prototype Store

The next step in achieving our green-building objectives is to create a prototype store that incorporates experimental ideas. We have selected the remodel of our Boulder, Colo., store and have chosen to work with Gensler Architects, a leading design firm and champion of sustainable design.

Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007, the prototype will embody the values that make REI unique -- community involvement, environmental stewardship and a commitment to serve as a gateway to the outdoors.

The Boulder remodel will be a state-of-the-art facility that highlights a number of new concepts to REI. For example, light from roof-to-floor solar tubes will provide as much as 25 percent of the daytime illumination. A solar thermal hot water system will provide the majority of the building's hot water for things such as employee showers and customer restrooms. We also plan a state-of-the-art Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system that will integrate solar electric glass panels into the skylight structure allowing day lighting and generating a portion of the store's electricity at the same time. Other features from low VOC paints and materials to no-flush urinals will help environmental issues such as indoor air quality and water efficiency. As part of the project, a computer-simulated model will measure how small changes - such as a sunny day versus a cloudy one - affect energy costs.

The prototype will serve as a working laboratory to help us determine where we can improve our environmental footprint and make fiscally responsible choices. The Boulder store will be one of three prototype locations that we will use to create a new standard in REI store designs. The other two have yet to be determined.

REI's Green Distribution Center in Bedford, Pennsylvania

With more than 20 REI stores east of the Mississippi River and our Sumner, Wash. distribution center struggling to keep up with the co-op's growth, it is time to open our second distribution facility.

We selected Bedford, Penn. for our new 525,000 square foot facility. As we considered our needs we held sessions to develop our goals for green building at such a large, complex facility. With the help of the green design firm, the 7 Group, and our commercial developer Lauth Construction we have set a target of building one of the first LEED-certified distribution facilities in the United States.

With majority of construction scheduled to be finished in 2007, the facility is anticipated to be fully operational in early 2008.

Before construction, rather than demolishing a serviceable structure, we worked with Habitat for Humanity and moved a house to a new location where it was reconditioned and given to a local family. During construction we are recycling over 75% of the site waste and even running the earth moving equipment on 20% biodiesel fuel. The facility will feature energy-efficient lighting, low-impact landscaping with native plants, and building materials with minimal off-gassing all of which will help make this project a leader in green building for the commercial construction industry.