Exposing Stores With Open Doors
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 07. 8.08
Every summer we rant about the retailers who leave the doors of their air conditioned stores open to attract customers in, while the units work overtime to cool the sidewalk. We might just rant, but over at Racked, they are doing something about it; they have started a section of their website called This Store Blows, where readers are invited to send in submissions of photos of stores egregiously wasting energy and creating greenhouse gases for no purpose at all. These are all in New York, but if you have any examples from where you live, put them up on Flickr tagged treehuggerstorefront and let us know in comments, or email them to me. ::Racked via ::PSFK
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It is time we stop spying on one another, why
don't you just simply close the door. I know if I see
this I will close the door in the future.
I've tried closing the door at many places. Before I cross the street, some employee has opened the door again...
West Elm does this every summer, with doors opening in the front and rear of their store.
My partner and I always say it should be illegal for businesses to be so wasteful and should be fined.
learn to pick your battles, d-bag
I'm with Anonymous on this. I spend a lot of time walking around Times Square and I am constantly closing doors when the AC is blasting out. The employees come right over and open them up again. What ever happened to the bill that was in the works here in NYC to fine stores for doing this? Any chance it might come back?
The real solution, the only one that will work, is to have energy prices that reflect the true cost to society. If energy prices were higher, stores would close their doors because it would be too expensive not to. It's business, so the only thing that really counts is money. That will never change, nor should it. Once the cost of everything stops being externalized, capitalism will truly shine.
it would be fair note that there is a technology known as an air door which provides reasonable separation between different zones (usually outside, and inside) and allows you to have an open facade without cooling the street. often with minimal notice by folks going through it.
now, that doesn't mean that it's as shiny as an efficient door with good weather seals, but it's a lot better than nothing, and may actually be in play in some of these places. certainly not all, but the problem may not be -as- bad in some buildings.