Walgreens Building First Self-Powered Store

Walgreens — the largest pharmacy retail chain in the United States — has announced plans to reduce its carbon footprint by building a store that generates all of its required electricity on site.

As part of the company’s Net Zero campaign, Walgreens’ green initiative to reduce energy usage by 20% across all of its locations by 2020, the new self-sustaining store will be built in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. To generate power, the store will include geothermal generators, two wind turbines and more than 800 solar panels. Energy-efficient building materials, LED lighting and ultra high-efficiency refrigeration will also be used to to help conserve wattage.