Other Cub Food stores, while not LEED Gold, also are becoming greener. Each store has a "green team," two employees viewed as environmentally savvy, that will provide headquarters with feedback about other actions and initiatives that could save energy--and money.

Green also can extend to maintenance, notes Robert Israel, senior director, Global Environmental Sustainability & Regulatory Affairs for Sturtevant, WI-based Johnson Diversey, a provider of commercial cleaning products. The company has produced a line of chemicals certified by Green Seal.

"Some areas in the grocery store can use the same products," as other building types, Israel said. But perishables and food preparation areas require more sanitizing and caution. Even increased vigilance on handwashing can make a huge difference.

Packaging is also another important area for sustainability. Johnson Diversey is producing a highly concentrated sanitizer for sinks that automatically dispenses the proper amount of cleaner while reducing the amount of plastic in the store.

Cub Foods is not alone in pursuing sustainability. Corporate parent Supervalu also is building sustainable stores among its other banners, including testing a natural-gas powered fuel cell for its refrigeration system in a Star Market in Newton, MA. Stop & Shop, too, is building sustainable stores, and Fred Meyer hopes to achieve LEED Silver status for a unit in southeast Portland, OR. If it succeeds, the store would be the first grocer in Oregon and parent Kroger's first unit to do so. Hy-Vee describes its commitment to sustainability, as well.

"There is certainly a great deal of interest in building green stores," says Jeanne von Zastrow, a senior director overseeing sustainability efforts of the Food Marketing Institute, Arlington, VA. "About two years ago, we saw that our member companies wanted assistance to understand this issue."

The notoriously tight-margin business must carefully track each expenditure, so FMI has created materials for executives to show their corner office occupants to justify the return on investment of green building, and has formed a sustainability task force. Its role: to define and explain sustainability to member companies and offer some tools to assist.

These include simplified carbon calculators to allow companies to assess their energy usage and emissions over a portfolio. Such tools are particularly useful to smaller companies, which may not have the resources of a Supervalu.

"It's a starting point," von Zastrow says. FMI held its first Sustainability Summit in June in Minneapolis, attended by more than 350 people. A second summit is scheduled for next June 15 to 17 in San Francisco.

"The best example is just seeing the growth that's taken place at FMI," said Israel, who keynoted the first sustainability summit.

And the goal is to continue. "Success," FMI's von Zastrow said, "Will be when we've embedded every aspect of sustainability into every decision at our stores."