Posts Tagged ‘kum & Go’
Even Gas Stations Can Go ‘Green’
Green Construction
Green construction is one of America’s fastest growing trends. The United States Green Building Council(USGBC) reports that green construction accounts for nearly one-third of all new construction. Over the next five years green construction will grow to more than one-half of all construction. By 2013, green buildings will support nearly 8 million workers across the U.S. Many businesses are trying to capitalize on this trend. Many companies are promoting products and services with an environmentally friendly sales pitch. We do not often think of gas stations and convenience stores as models of sustainability but Iowa based Kum & Go is making a commitment in a big way.
Kum & Go – The ONLY Convenience Store in America Going ‘Green’
Kum & Go, a privately owned Iowa-base company, is the only convenience store chain in America participating in the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. All new concept stores for Kum & Go are being submitted for LEED Certification. In 2012 Kum & Go is anticipating investing over $2 million in ‘green’ improvements. Look at the features at the Kum & Go in Fairfield, Iowa:
Single-Stream Recycling
The store pays for single-stream recycling, keeping valuable resources from ending up in landfills.
LED Lighting
Kum & Go uses highly-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) fixtures inside the coolers, about the gas pumps, around the parking lot, and in interior applications. LEDs use less electricity, give off less heat, and the light is more focused.
Water-Saving Fixtures
Low-flow sink, toilet, and urinal fixtures are used in the store. These fixtures use at least 20% less water then conventional fixtures.
Renewable Fuels
Whenever available, each of Kum & Go’s new stores sells premium, no-lead and ethanol-blended fuels, including E10 and E85. The Kum & Go in Fairfield is one of the few convenience stores offering bio-diesel.
Sustainable Materials
The majority of the construction materials used to build the store were manufactured regionally, containing raw materials sourced from within 500 miles. Over 50% of all wood materials are FSC certified. Additionally, the steel and concrete contain high percentages of recycled content.
Reflective Concrete
The store’s parking lot is treated with a high-reflective white coating that reflects the sun’s heat. This reduces the “heat-island effect” by reducing the parking lot temperatures. Normally, pavement, dark-colored roofs, and similar surfaces absorb more sunlight, trap heat, and increase local temperatures. The reduction of the temperature helps save energy used to cool the building and reduces surface level ozone.
Bike Rack & Changing Rooms
The store design provides bicycle racks for associates and customers, as well as locking restroom facilities for changing. Alternative forms of transportation reduce traffic congestion.
High Efficiency Heating and Air Conditioning
The heating and air conditioning systems at this store have a high efficiency rating. The store has an optimized direct digital control (DDC) and a high-level filtration system that maintains excellent indoor air quality for customers and associates. Additionally, most refrigeration equipment used inside the store is Energy Star certified.
Day Lighting (Prismatic Skylights)
Honeycomb-shaped prisms in the roof, called Solatubes, reduce glare and refract daylight into the building. Natural lighting enhances colors and saves electricity.
Reflective Roof
The roof of the store is covered with a white rubber finish that reflects the sun’s heat. Similar to the reflective concrete used on the parking lot, This decreases heat transfer to the store interior, reducing the amount of energy needed to cool the building.
Electric Car Charging Station
Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station is behind the store and looks like an air station. This device supplies electricity for recharging plug-in electric vehicles, including all-electric cars, neighborhood electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
Rain Gardens & Bioswales
There are three interconnected bioswales on this site. These bioswales effectively filter and detain all of the rainwater produced by the impermeable surfaces on the site. Specifically, Kum & Go wanted to protect the headwaters of the Indian Creek watershed from hydrocarbon runoff. The bioswales prevent any hydrocarbon runoff while reducing the water velocity that is destructive to local streams.
Scott Timm said, “We are very happy and fortunate to work with Kum & Go to protect the headwaters of Indian Creek.” Scott Timm is the Iowa State University Extension program specialist who is helping move Fairfield’s Go Green strategic plan from concept to reality. Scott said the Fairfield, Iowa Kum & Go went well above and beyond what they typically do. “We are very very pleased with the team effort.”
Click here to read more about Fairfield, Iowa’s Go Green Strategic Plan
The new Kum & Go in Fairfield, Iowa is an outstanding example of how green construction not only benefits patrons, business owners, and employee but also benefits an entire community – especially our water quality.
Rain Gardens in a Fairfield, Iowa Gas Station
“Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink,” wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Aging and outdated infrastructure is threatening the way we live.
The American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card on America’s Infrastructure grades America’s water infrastructure a “D-,” the lowest grade in any infrastructure category. The next lowest grade, “F” failure, is simply unacceptable.
In many communities our storm water system is combined with our sewer system. Rainwater is treated like sewer water. However, when as little as a quarter of an inch of rainfalls, our storm water system is overwhelmed and untreated sewer water is dumped into our local waterways. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers urban water runoff the greatest threat to our nation’s waters
The largest source of storm water comes from rooftops and parking lots. As human development occurs we interrupt the natural water cycle. In a natural environment, ninety-eight percent of the storm water that falls in an area stays on the area. The leaves of the trees that cover the property as the rain falls, slows the rain down. The soil, which is not compacted, captures the majority of the rainfall. Only two to three percent of the rain that falls on an area runs off. The speed of the water runoff is significantly slower because of the plants covering the area.
Rain Gardens are vegetated areas, lower in elevation than the surrounding area. The soil is engineered so that it allows rainwater to be percolated through a series of soil and gravel layers. Rain gardens serve two purposes. First, the rain garden captures and detains storm water. Second, the rain garden filters the storm water, thus reducing storm water runoff and pollution.
Rain gardens are located in an area as close as possible to the rooftops and parking lots that produce the storm water runoff. Native plants are usually used for vegetation because native plants are more adaptable to the local climate and do not require as much maintenance as turf or other plant materials. The plants in a rain garden maintain the soil’s permeability and assists in filtering the storm water.
The good news is that this natural, simple, common sense approach is less expensive to implement than conventional solutions. Green infrastructure uses natural processes to mimic nature for managing storm water. In technical terms, biomimicry, or copying nature, utilizes the same processes and systems found in a natural environment, before land development.
In the past we tried to conquer nature. Today we are trying to live with nature but the future is in learning to be a part of nature.
Note: This article originally appeared in The Fairfield Weekly Reader