New Seasons didn’t think twice about stocking the aisles with energy savings in its new 30,000-square-foot store on Portland’s North Williams bike corridor.

To maximize the efficiency of its store, the New Seasons development team brought in long-time Energy Trust of Oregon ally R3 Retail Development to help analyze its energy needs and provide technical expertise on energy-efficient technologies. “We reviewed a number of solutions that had been used before and some that were new to the market,” said Rick Ferguson, owner of R3. “All the systems we consider have to save energy, but they also have to make good business sense in terms of return on investment and payback period.”

The project took advantage of Energy Trust’s early design assistance to identify refrigeration and lighting controls in addition to other efficient technologies that optimize energy use throughout the entire store. These efficiency gains save energy, boost the company’s bottom line and may even make for a better customer shopping experience.

The project received $2,500 in cash incentives for early design assistance, $53,900 for installing efficient systems and $3,190 for commissioning.