Best Buy has announced plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent per square foot across all United States stores and operations—including its corporate headquarters, fleet and distribution centers—by 2012.

Best Buy plans to measure emissions on a per-square-footage basis to account for improvement while maintaining company growth initiatives. A recent nationwide inventory indicated that U.S. operations and stores emit approximately 62 pounds of GHG per square foot annually. Electricity use represents 77 percent of the emissions, followed by heating, ventilation and air conditioning at 13 percent; gas for fleet and service vehicles at 5 percent; and diesel for fleet vehicles and natural gas at 2 percent each.

Best Buy has outlined specific steps designed to help reach its reduction target, including:

• New stores built with high-efficiency lighting, HVAC systems and skylights.
• Addition of skylights and upgrades on lighting and HVAC systems in existing stores and operations.
• Implementation of a no-idling policy nationwide for truck fleets.
• Upgrades and networking of the centralized Energy Management System to better track energy spikes across stores and operations.
• Tests of renewable energy sources, including solar panels, in select stores.

“We're proud of the efforts we've made over the past decade to decrease our energy use,” said Brian Dunn, Best Buy president and COO. “And I'm even more proud of the employees and teams across our stores and operations who challenge us every day to make a bigger difference through better business practices. This commitment to reduce our emissions signals our willingness to invest in even more efficient operations today, which will save money over time and help us meet the expectations of our customers, employees and shareholders.”

Best Buy recently announced its GHG initiative to Climate Leaders, an Environmental Protection Agency industry-government partnership that works to develop comprehensive climate change strategies for business. The 226 corporate members of Climate Leaders represent more than 10 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and have pledged GHG reductions equivalent to the emissions of 9 million cars annually.