Three Office Depot stores hold top spots for retail energy efficiency gains at midpoint of EPA's Energy Star National Building Competition

Kendall Sinclair

BOCA RATON, Florida , October 11, 2011 (press release) – Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today reported that Office Depot stores hold the top three spots for retail energy efficiency gains at the midpoint of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR National Building Competition.

The EPA has marked the midpoint of the 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings by releasing a list of Top Contenders for each building category, as well as the progress of all competitors. The Office Depot store located at 909 N. Central Expressway in Plano, TX was named the Top Contender in the retail category, leading all other buildings in this category with a 17 percent energy reduction at the midpoint in the competition.

Office Depot also holds the #2 and #3 positions in the retail category, with stores in Raleigh and Tallahassee achieving 15 and 13 percent reductions respectively.

Teams from 245 buildings around the country are going head-to-head in this year's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition to see who can reduce their energy use the most. In the first six months of the competition alone, the competitors collectively have saved more than $3.7 million on utility bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity used by 2,300 homes annually.

"Thanks to the commitment and creativity of our team here at Office Depot, we have made great progress in saving energy and cutting our utility bills as part of EPA's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition," said Edward Costa, Vice President of Construction for Office Depot. "We've received strong support from EPA's ENERGY STAR program and look forward to even greater success in the remaining months of the competition."

Office Depot has reduced its energy use through a variety of strategies, including:

Completing a major de-lamping effort to remove one out of three lamps per store ballast and installing reflectors;
Installing motion detectors in the receiving area;
Converting to LED exit signs; and
Upgrading Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning systems.

"Competitors in the second year of the ENERGY STAR Battle of the Buildings are already achieving energy savings that really pack a punch," said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy. "The stories behind these energy savings speak to the dedication of American businesses and organizations to protecting the environment and public health, and to economic common sense."

"Office Depot has a global environmental commitment to buy greener, be greener and sell greener," said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Senior Director, Environmental Strategy for Office Depot. "With the leadership of the construction team under Ed Costa and energy team under Sharon Smith, we have proven that being greener by reducing energy and greenhouse gases means saving money. We applaud the ENERGY STAR program for hosting these types of positive competitions that bring fun into environmental initiatives."


About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR was started by EPA in 1992 as a market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products as well as new homes and commercial and industrial buildings that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by EPA. Last year alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved about $18 billion on their energy bills while preventing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 33 million vehicles.

List of Top Contenders and complete midpoint results for all competitors: http://www.energystar.gov/BattleOfTheBuildings

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,627 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 56 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Information on Office Depot's Environmental Strategy efforts can be found at www.officedepot.com/environment. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

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