Bluestone Energy & Ahold USA Announce Energy Conservation Partnership

NORWELL, Mass. & QUINCY, Mass .- Bluestone Energy Services, LLC, a leader in energy conservation engineering and project development services for a variety of sectors including industrial and retail, announced today that it is continuing and strengthening its relationship with supermarket leader, Ahold USA, a food retailing group that operates supermarkets throughout the US. For nearly the last ten years, Bluestone Energy and Ahold USA have partnered to reduce the energy consumption across hundreds of Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and GIANT/MARTIN’S supermarkets, resulting in a significant reduction in Ahold USA’s overall carbon footprint, as well as a substantial reduction in energy costs that can be passed onto customers.

In 2014, Bluestone Energy’s Supermarket Division completed comprehensive energy efficiency projects in partnership with Ahold USA and its retail stores, including upgrading all of the interior lighting at the store level to new LED lighting with advanced wireless controls. This high-efficiency lighting installation reduced the lighting consumption in the stores by over 70%. In addition to reducing the energy profile of the stores, the lighting systems enhance the customer experience through improved light levels as well as light quality.

“Being a responsible retailer is central to Ahold USA and its retail divisions,” said Jihad Rizkallah, Vice President of Responsible Retailing at Ahold USA. “Part of our Better Neighbor Promise is to care for the environment in the communities we serve. We strive to minimize our impact on the environment by implementing energy conservation initiatives and deploying innovative, sustainable building technologies that reduce our energy consumption and make our operations more efficient.”

“Bluestone Energy Services is honored to work with a progressive company like Ahold USA, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come, ensuring that their stores are some of the most efficient in the nation,” said Ryan Blair, President of Bluestone Energy Services. “In the years ahead, Bluestone will continue to provide tailored solutions to Ahold USA’s energy conservation needs, as well helping to navigate the utility incentive process across multiple states and utility programs.”

In 2015 Ahold USA and Bluestone plan to increase their Energy Conservation Initiative by expanding the reach of projects to touch stores in all regions and to increase the energy savings in new projects while also continuing to improve the efficiency of existing projects.

About Bluestone Energy Services

Norwell, Massachusetts-based Bluestone Energy Services, LLC, an OpTerra company, provides professional engineering and project development services for utilities, retail and corporate clients. Bluestone is a leader in demand-side management (DSM) programs for large commercial and industrial organizations. Bluestone has secured millions of dollars in utility incentives for its clients by developing and implementing hundreds of HVAC, lighting and process energy-conservation projects. Bluestone has worked with a wide array of companies including General Mills, Coca Cola, Boston University and P&G.

Additional information can be found at http://www.bluestoneenergy.com.

About Ahold USA

Ahold USA is part of Ahold, a Dutch-based international food retailing group that operates quality supermarkets in the United States and Europe. Ahold USA supports four regional Divisions – Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, and Giant Carlisle – that together operate more than 770 supermarkets with approximately 115,000 associates in 14 states and the District of Columbia along with Peapod, the nation’s leading e-commerce grocery shopping/delivery service.
Contacts

Source: Ahold USA