It was sunny-side up when Broadway Plaza, the all-outdoor, high-experience retail destination in the heart of Walnut Creek, CA, celebrated the installation of 5,160 solar panels just before Earth Day.

The solar installation is part of the wide-ranging sustainability focus at the expanded, updated – and high-performing – Broadway Plaza, which was designed to earn LEED® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Key elements of the property’s green building process included taking advantage of existing structures to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of development. The property’s design for sustainability included everything from recycling more than 95% of construction-related materials from demolition to creating paving and roof surfaces to reduce the heat island effect, along with reducing light pollution, adding low-flow fixtures, planting drought-tolerant landscaping and more.

“It makes sense to take advantage of the East Bay’s reliable sunshine, and the new installation of 5,160 solar panels at Broadway Plaza will produce substantial clean energy on site,” said Jeff Bedell, Vice President of Sustainability for Macerich.  “And it’s not only happening here. Across our portfolio, in 2017 alone we produced nearly 39 million kWh of clean energy from 12 on-site solar power projects and six on-site fuel cell systems.”

On-property power generation reduced Macerich’s carbon footprint by more than 29,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2017 – which is equivalent to keeping 6,253 cars off the road for a year. In fact, the amount of on-site clean energy the company produced in 2017 was more than double the amount in 2016.

Clean energy production at key properties is an important component of Macerich’s award-winning sustainability program, which has a long-term goal of generating zero energy waste, near zero emissions, zero water waste and zero landfill impact by 2025-2030.

Read more in Macerich’s newest Sustainability Report at http://www.macerich.com.