New A&P features efficient lighting, refrigeration, HVAC. (heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Inc.'s Food Market building, Old Lyme, Connecticut)

OLD LYME, Conn. -- Owners of a newly constructed 40,000-square-foot A&P Food Market here estimate that energy conservation measures included in the facility as part of Connecticut Light and Power Co.'s (CL&P's) Energy Conscious Construction program will reduce annual utility bills by $87,589.

The enhanced lighting, HVAC, and refrigeration systems that will bring the savings were funded by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. (A&P) of Montvale, N.J., with a $117,970 grant from CL&P, according to A&P corporate utility specialist Anthony Pashalian. The utility predicts the upgrades will cut annual energy consumption at the facility by 33 percent, or 1,094,240 kilowatt hours (kwh).

Pashalian told EUN that when the utility originally contacted A&P about the Energy Conscious Construction program, the supermarket chain wasn't planning any new construction projects. But seven months later, when the Old …