Under the leadership of Ed Costa, vice president of construction for Office Depot, the company has chosen to make numerous energy efficiency investments, including de-lamping one out of every three bulbs in tens of thousands of fixtures across more than 1,000 stores, while maintaining similar light output by adding reflectors above the remaining two bulbs.

The $8 million de-lamping/reflectors project garnered an 84 percent internal rate of return.

Other efficiency measures include:

• Installing motion detectors in warehouses, stores and business offices
• Upgrading heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems
• Using Big Ass Fans in select locations to reduce air conditioning requirements
• Participating in load shedding programs with utilities in numerous jurisdictions
• Centrally controlling energy across the US with an energy management system.

In addition to helping achieve its carbon reduction goal one year ahead of schedule, these efforts helped Office Depot achieve the following results:

• A reduction in electricity use across all stores in North America from 625,000 MWh in 2007 to 433,000 MWh in 2011 – a drop of 31 percent, while facilities under management dropped just 8 percent
• A reduction in electricity costs across all stores in North America from $56 million in 2007 to $46 million in 2011
• A reduction in natural gas use across all stores in North America from 361,000 mmBTUs in 2007 to 326,000 mmBTUs in 2011

Office Depot recently received a Climate Leadership Goal Achievement Award for Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, the Association of Climate Change Officers, the Center for Climate & Energy Solutions, and The Climate Registry. The Goal Achievement Award recognizes organizations that publicly report and verify Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories and achieve aggressive reduction goals. In 2010, in collaboration with EPA’s former Climate Leaders program, Office Depot adopted a goal of reducing US GHG emissions by 20 percent by 2012, with 2007 as a baseline year. By the end of 2011, Office Depot had achieved a 29 percent reduction in the US versus its baseline year.