There’s a new look to the roofline of The Mall at Short Hills. Capturing the rays of the sun atop portions of the shopping center’s roofs and parking decks are fields of gleaming solar panels. The 3.5-megawatt (MW) installation, completed in 2018, is generating enough energy to power 50 percent of the mall’s common-area heating, cooling and lighting. That’s equivalent to handling the annual energy usage of 510 homes.

“We’re committed to operating our center in a sustainable manner,” said Jamie Cox, general manager. “The clean, renewable energy we’re generating from the 8,933 state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels here on our property advances our goal to be best-in-class in utilizing renewable resources and protecting our environment.”

On the top, open-air level of the parking decks, new steel structures 16-20 feet high support canopies of solar panels. No parking capacity was lost with the installation. And thanks to support from Jersey Central Power & Light and the State of New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Energy Credits program, the center’s investment costs should be recovered in just a few years.

“In 2013, as part of our Smart Building initiative, we installed a fiber optic infrastructure throughout the center to help us effectively monitor, analyze and adjust all our energy systems in real time,” said Cox. “And last year we completed our conversion to efficient LED lighting in the interior common areas and on all the exterior light poles. Since 2013 we have been able to reduce our annual energy use in those areas by more than 20 percent.”

The Mall at Short Hills’ selection of luxury, fashion retailers rivals the offerings of its nearby neighbor to the east, New York City. “We’re located in the heart of a very sophisticated market, and our customers are savvy when it comes to sustainability,” said Cox. “They’ve made responsible energy-use a part of their lives and expect the same from us. We’ve gotten a lot of encouragement and compliments on our ongoing recycling and energy management programs. The new solar installation is the latest and most visible demonstration of that commitment.”

Click here to view flyover video of the Mall at Short Hills' solar installation.

International Market Place is located in the heart of Waikīkī on the island of O’ahu and is known for its world-class surfing, sightseeing, dining and shopping. O’ahu is home to nearly one million of the state’s 1.43 million residents. It’s not surprising that this bustling tropical paradise takes sustainability seriously.

“Living in a precious island environment, it’s our responsibility to be good stewards of the ʻāina (land) including how we can innovatively think about waste disposal and recycling,” said Breana Grosz, general manager of International Market Place. “Luckily, Hawai’i has always been at the forefront of conservation and sustainability. Honolulu passed the nation’s first food waste recycling ordinance in 1997 requiring restaurants, hotels and grocery stores to recycle food waste. Hawai’i could even become the first state to ban single-use plastics at restaurants.”

Food is a main attraction at the iconic International Market Place, which Taubman fully reimagined and reopened in 2016. The center has been an attraction for visitors and kama’aina (residents) alike since 1957. A review in Hawai’i Magazine praised the center’s new third-level Grand Lānai as, “a world class collection of restaurants by some of the most esteemed names in the culinary biz.”

“To help our restaurant tenants meet the requirements of the recycling ordinance, we designed a food recovery program and chilling room into the renovation plans,” said Grosz. “All food waste is placed into special bins which are stored overnight in the chilling room. Every morning the bins are emptied into trucks and hauled, not to landfills, but to local pig farms on the island, where it is processed into feed. It truly is a win-win for everybody; the center, tenants, farmers and environment.”

In addition to the center’s food recovery program, discarded cardboard and glass are recycled, and other non-food trash is delivered to the Hawaiian Electric Company to power an efficient waste-to-energy facility.

“We are doing our part at the center to be more cognizant of our environmental impact,” said Grosz. “We are especially proud of our drip irrigation system that with the help of embedded sensors keeps the extensive landscaping throughout the center thriving without using any more water than necessary. We are also analyzing the practicality of installing solar panels onsite. In marketing, some of our programs focus on sustainability partnerships and education. In some cases, these initiatives can even bring cost-savings and be revenue generating to our tenants. At International Market Place and globally, we need to be pono (righteous) with how we live, work and interact with the environment around us.”

A 2018 report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that worldwide sales of electric vehicles will jump from 1.1 million in 2017 to 11 million by 2025. The Bloomberg outlook also projects that electric vehicles will make up 55 percent of all new car sales by 2040. Those dramatic growth projections, good news for the environment, are supported by trends General Manager Gary Malfroid is seeing at International Plaza in Tampa.

“Consistent with our commitment to sustainability, we’d like to help our customers lessen their dependence on carbon fuels,” said Malfroid. “Our center draws shoppers from communities up and down the west coast of Florida. They drive considerable distances for our unique shops and restaurants. For those with electric vehicles, it’s important to make sure there’s a place to charge their car. So, in 2015 we installed four charging stations to test the demand. The initial visitor response was so strong we installed four more stations in 2018. And we’re bringing 12 additional stations online in 2019, making a total of 20.”

Charging your electric car at International Plaza while you shop or dine is free. The average plug-in session is approximately two hours and usage of the stations is at 100 percent of capacity about half the time. “In 2017, we logged 2,704 charging sessions, and in just the first 11 months of 2018 with the additional units we logged close to 5,000,” said Malfroid.

In addition to being a popular customer amenity, the car charging stations play an important role in International Plaza’s comprehensive sustainability efforts, which include the use of efficient LED lighting in interior common areas and the parking deck, availability of convenient water bottle refilling stations for shoppers to reduce the use of soda cans and bottles, and the property’s retention ponds that capture rainwater runoff for reuse in the center’s efficient drip-water irrigation system.

“Tampa is a very energy-conscious community,” said Malfroid, “and knowing our shoppers, we expect to see more and more electric vehicles in our parking areas. That’s great for our customers, our center and the environment.”

America’s Rocky Mountain region is known for its majestic views, powder snow and year-round sunshine. The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation boasts that the Mile High City enjoys 300 sunny days a year. Denver’s Cherry Creek shopping center wants to put some of that sunshine to work as part of its commitment to sustainability.

“It’s hard on a beautiful day here in Denver not to think about the opportunity we’re missing to harness the boundless, renewable energy of the sun,” said Cherry Creek Sr. Facilities Director Mike Mueller. “Environmental issues are very important to our customers, and they give us great suggestions about recycling, conservation and energy use. The recycling bins we have in the common areas were a direct result of people coming up to us with their empty water bottles asking for a better way to dispose of them. We got the message. And the subject of solar power comes up a lot.”

The center’s new solar installation includes seven arrays with 8,284 individual solar panels located both on portions of the roof and the parking deck’s upper level. The parking deck panels are supported by a steel structure over the existing parking spaces. With the capacity to generate 2.56 megawatts (MW) of electricity, the system will cover approximately 40 percent of the operating needs of the mall’s common areas — enough power to supply the annual energy needs of 246 homes.

“We’ve made continual improvements to our recycling and energy management programs,” said Mueller, “but I think our solar installation has generated the most anticipation and excitement. There are high expectations in this market when it comes to sustainability. In fact, our utility company, Xcel Energy, who has given us strong support with our solar project, recently set their own goal to deliver 100-percent carbon-free electricity to their customers by the year 2050. It’s projects like ours and the thousands of other businesses and residents who tap renewable energy sources that will make that sunny vision become a reality.”

The state of Connecticut has set an ambitious goal for its use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. In its 2018 Comprehensive Energy Strategy, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection recommended doubling the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 40 percent by 2030. Westfarms mall in West Hartford is doing its part to help reach that goal.

“We've begun a $9.2 million installation of solar panels on portions of our roofs and a parking field on the southern side of our property,” said Westfarms General Manager Kevin Keenan. “After years of analyzing the evolving efficiency and reliability of the technology, we determined this is the right time for us to move forward.”

Kristina CatterfeldFacilities Director, Westfarms

Westfarms Facility Director Kristina Catterfeld has been working with state and local authorities, as well as Eversource, the company that provides electricity to the mall, to finalize the plans. “The boundary between the towns of West Hartford and Farmington runs right through our center,” said Catterfeld. “So, with a project like this, we work closely with both municipalities and the state. Everyone recognizes the environmental and economic benefits and has been very supportive.”

In addition to the roof-mounted solar panels, in one of the center’s surface parking fields a structure is being built to support a canopy of panels, under which shoppers can park their cars. No existing parking spaces will be lost. “With our prep work completed on the roof and parking surfaces and construction underway, we’ll be able by early 2020 to annually produce 3.2-million kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy — enough to power 393 homes per year," said Catterfeld. "That will reduce our energy consumption and help Connecticut meet its RPS goal.”

“Connecticut has been a leader in addressing sustainability,” said Keenan. “For example, we have one of the lowest rates of landfilling in the nation, and that’s reflected in how we handle the waste we produce here at Westfarms. Essentially all of our discarded cardboard, paper and glass is recycled, and non-recyclables are used to generate electricity at one of the state’s trash-to-energy power facilities. For sure, producing 40 percent of Connecticut’s energy from renewable sources by 2030 is an ambitious goal. But I’m betting we can do it.”