Green Spotlight:  Notes From Nancy Grant

The usual advice for wise energy use includes saving gas by planning your driving route carefully to avoid backtracking.  But what if you’d like to leave your car or truck out of your errand-running loop altogether? Here are three good ideas:

Shank’s mare – This old-fashioned country term means using your own two legs for travel. Whether you’re starting from home or your workplace, just put on comfy shoes and it’s right foot, left foot all the way to the co-op. If you’re new to walking outdoors, you’ll find it’s quite different from a treadmill–traffic and signals to watch for, people to chat with, birds to watch–but you can estimate that each half mile will take ten to fifteen minutes. The return trip may take a bit longer because you’ll have the added weight of whatever you bought. A child’s wagon or other wheeled contraption to pull along can be a big help.

Bicycle – Whether your human powered two-wheeler has one gear or twenty, when you arrive at the co-op you’ll find a sturdy bike rack near the front door where you can park it safely. Before you leave, take a minute to balance your load of shopping bags in your front handlebar basket or pannier baskets over the rear wheel; small bungee cords or carabineer clips will help keep your packages in place as you pedal.

Bus –The co-op is on MVTA’s bus route #442. Help planning your public transportation travel route is just a click away at or www.mvta.com.

Bonus tip: In the store, look for the display of reusable thermal bags to carry your purchases home. Available in two sizes and costing less than a single gallon of gas, they’ll keep your hot items toasty or your frozen items icy cold.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Click here to read the Valley Natural Foods Green Report 2010.

Green Spotlight:  Notes From Nancy Grant

In every department at Valley Natural Foods Co-op, staff members have found many ways to use energy wisely and prevent waste, while still providing the best service and highest quality foods.

Have you thought about how you could put some of their good ideas into practice at home?

Did you know that the biggest energy user in your kitchen is the refrigerator/freezer?

The temperature in the refrigerator compartment must be set between 36 ˚ and 38 ˚ F. In the freezer, the safe temperature range is between 0 ˚ and 5 ˚ F. That’s because the point of keeping foods cool is to prevent the growth of bacteria. Resetting the temperature controls to use less energy is not an option.

Instead, check to make certain that the gaskets around the doors seal tightly. A dollar bill shut in the door should take a good tug to pull out. Repeat this simple test in different spots all around both doors. If you find a gap, call an appliance repair service to fix the problem.

When it’s time for spring cleaning, don’t forget to vacuum behind and under your refrigerator –dust build-up can interfere with your appliance’s performance and waste energy.

A common energy-saving tip recommends letting cooked foods cool partially before putting them into the ‘fridge. But food safety guides note that these items can quickly become dangerous at room temperature. A smart compromise is to read package labels and cookbooks carefully, then set a kitchen timer to remind you when to put leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer.

The University of Minnesota Extension Service offers great tips about food safety and energy efficiency at www.extension.umn.edu.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Click here to read the Valley Natural Foods Green Report 2010.

Green Spotlight:  Notes from Nancy Grant

Cooking and serving lots of tasty foods from the deli kitchen takes great recipes and attention to the tiniest details. That includes thinking about energy use, water consumption, and ways to prevent waste.

Deli manager Jill Webster says the job’s easier because she’s surrounded by helpful “green thinking” team members.

Valley Natural Foods co-op general manager Susan McGaughey believes in purchasing the most energy-efficient kitchen appliances available that save money in operating expenses in the long run. Today’s co-op kitchen features large stand mixers, slicers, a high-tech convection oven, plus a ten-rack “combi” oven that can steam and bake different kinds of foods at the same time. Such multi-tasking is simple with programmable controls that help prevent energy waste.

Webster also counts on her keen-eyed deli staff members to turn off equipment when it’s not needed. Webster says her team members are also especially good at noticing dripping faucets and leaks, then fixing problems promptly to conserve water.

Ordinary day-to-day maintenance plays a big role in being energy wise, too. Webster follows a regular schedule to keep vents and all equipment parts clean and operating at peak efficiency.

Webster is especially pleased that deli shoppers can get involved in making “green” choices, too. The self-service area includes responsibly produced paper items for take-out orders. For shoppers who want to enjoy food and drinks on-site, Webster offers real glassware and serving dishes that can be washed and re-used again and again. That reduces trash going to the landfill, another planet-friendly strategy.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Click here to read the Valley Natural Foods Green Report 2010.

Green Spotlight:  Notes from Nancy Grant

Trying to figure out the exact energy-saving benefits of switching to something new can be tough if you try to go it alone. Are you using the right thing for your situation? How much money can you save over a year’s time? How can you figure the impact on the environment?

When Valley Natural Foods general manager Susan McGaughey needs answers to energy questions like these she calls on the helpful folks at Dakota Energy Cooperative. 

Operating a grocery store presents unique energy problems. For safety, the foods and drinks in freezers and refrigerated cases must be kept at certain temperatures. Lighting within these display cases must be bright enough so shoppers can read product labels easily.

Working with Dakota Energy’s Tim Dougherty, Susan examined a new idea. Would replacing the good fluorescent lights inside the cases with new, even more efficient LED lights have measurable benefits? Turns out, the answer is “yes.” New lights will provide excellent illumination but use fewer kilowatts than the old ones. The lower operating temperatures of the new lights will also reduce the heat load inside the cases. That means even more energy savings.

With number-crunching help from the experts at the electric co-op, Susan figures that each year the new LED lights will save the food co-op more than one thousand dollars in electricity expenses – and reduce carbon dioxide emissions at power plants in the region by more than seventy thousand pounds.

Learning from the experts in the world of cooperatives is a big step on the road to a more sustainable world.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Click here to read the Valley Natural Foods Green Report 2010.

Green Spotlight:  Notes from Nancy Grant 

Ever get frustrated peeling away two or three layers of packaging around a simple purchase? Ever toss a plastic bottle into the trash instead of the recycling bin? Do you sometimes forget to bring along your reusable bags on a shopping trip?

Making new greener ideas a steady part of life does take a bit of thinking ahead. 

At Valley Natural Foods sustainable habits are built-in to every department.

In the meat department, trims go to an independent company that uses the leftover bits to make fertilizer. In the produce department, any veggies leftover after donations to local charities go to the co-op’s on-site compost heap. In the stock rooms, empty cardboard shipping boxes go to a paper and fiber recycler. In the employee break room, a co-op worker gathers aluminum cans and plastic bottles for recycling later.

The co-op’s also making it easier for shoppers to try the three R’s – reduce, recycle, reuse – in a variety of ways throughout the store.

In the bulk department, customers may bring their own containers to buy exactly the quantity of an item needed, with no extra packaging. At the checkout lanes, shoppers who bring their own reusable bags can earn Green Stamp rewards. (To learn about Valley Natural Foods’ Green Stamp program, visit the Community Outreach web page, and scroll down to Green Stamp Program.)

Valley Natural Foods’ ongoing commitment to greener operations has been recognized again this year by Dakota Valley Recycling. Look for the ARROW window cling displayed at the store entrance. The sign stands for “Awards for Recycling and Reduction of Waste” and recognizes local businesses and organizations that make environmentally-responsible choices in their day-to-day practices.

Click here to read the Valley Natural Foods Green Report 2010.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.

Green Spotlight:  Notes from Nancy Grant

Can a food co-op add sustainable ideas to its daily operations? Sure, the co-op encourages food producers to take the best care possible of their land and natural resources. But what about other opportunities for a “greener” approach?

At Valley Natural Foods the hunt is on to find ways to take better care of the environment right here in the store.

The first good idea: Replace the paper towel dispensers in the restrooms with electric hand dryers to cut down on paper waste. The second good idea: Encourage office staffers to use e-mail and other computer technology as often as possible, then print documents on paper only when absolutely necessary. Throughout the co-op, the idea is to use a little less paper, please.

Simple steps like these are part of a much larger effort to put the sustainability concepts in the co-op’s FRESH values statement into daily practice. Each greener choice must also make solid financial success, to support a healthy financial bottom line for co-op member-owners. In every department, managers and employees are making new, greener ideas part of the work day. The co-op recently published its first online Green Report describing these new approaches.

Watch for more ideas about energy efficient lighting, recycling programs, energy-wise choices for food storage and preparation (in the co-op’s kitchen and yours!) in upcoming issues of Healthy Updates.

Energy journalist and blogger Nancy S. Grant is a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association.