Tesco’s Fresh & Easy chain has unveiled its first LEED Gold-certified grocery store, which opened yesterday in Cathedral City, Calif. The store achieved LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water use and the incorporation of several other green strategies, such as using 90 percent recycled steel for the building’s structure.

On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30 percent less energy than a typical supermarket and employ technologies like solar tracking skylights, automatically dimming lights, and LED lighting, according to the banner. Fresh & Easy, which opened its first store in November 2007, currently operates 127 stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Each location is about 10,000 square feet.

El Segundo, Calif.-based Fresh & Easy is a pilot member of the LEED Volume Certification Program and has invested in a 500,000-square-foot solar roof installation for its Riverside, Calif., distribution center.

“Achieving LEED Gold certification for our Cathedral City store further demonstrates our commitment to the environment and sustainable consumption,” said Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. “Designing our buildings to use less energy is win-win: we are able to use less money which we can pass onto customers, and we have less of an impact on the earth.”

Certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program was established by the U.S. Green Building Council and is verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).