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HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) announced today that Sears Grand 聽in Cape Girardeau, Mo., has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment.In the spirit of popular weight-loss competitions, Sears will battle it out against hundreds of other teams representing buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's ENERGY STAR program.

"Sears is honored to be a part of the EPA's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition for the second consecutive year," said Michael Brown, director, Environmental Sustainability. "We are committed to improving our energy efficiency and we look forward to seeing how we measure up against other buildings across the nation. 聽We are also excited to get the chance to improve upon our second-place finish in last year's competition."

The 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition includes 245 teams from 26 different types of commercial buildings such as; retail stores, schools, hotels and museums. Eleven buildings are 100 years old or greater, the smallest building is just over 6,000 square feet and 15 buildings cover more than one million square feet of floor space with the largest totaling nearly three million square feet.

"Buildings of all shapes and sizes are saving money and energy with help from the EPA and ENERGY STAR," said Jean Lupinacci, director of EPA's ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings Program. "We applaud the contestants of EPA's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition for taking action to protect the environment and save energy in the buildings where we work, play and learn."

Competitors will measure and track their building's monthly energy consumption using EPA's ENERGY STAR online energy tracking tool, ; make improvements to their building's energy performance; and share their progress. Of the initial pool of 245 competitors, a small group of buildings will be selected as finalists in July. Among the finalists, the building that demonstrates the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy use intensity will be recognized as the winner on Nov. 2, 2011.

To try to reduce the amount of energy being used the Cape Girardeau Sears Grand store has taken or will take the following actions:

• Completed an interior lighting retrofit, which converted lighting from HID (high-intensity discharge) to more efficient fluorescent lighting.
• Completed an occupancy sensor installation through the building, which will keep lights off when not in use.
• Will maintain strict energy disciplines throughout the competition, having store employees treat the store as they do at their own homes by turning off lights when they leave the room and closing doors to keep cold winds out.

According to the EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and energy use at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with the EPA's ENERGY STAR program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere each year.

Watch the battle unfold:

For more information on Sears Holdings' environmental sustainability initiatives, visit or follow us on Twitter @EnviroSears.

About Sears Holdings Corporation

Sears Holdings Corporation is the nation's fourth largest broadline retailer with over 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada. 聽Sears Holdings is the leading home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, consumer electronics and automotive repair and maintenance. 聽Sears Holdings is the 2011 ENERGY STAR庐 Retail Partner of the Year. 聽Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering, including such well-known labels as Lands' End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer, as well as the Apostrophe and Covington brands. 聽It also has the Country Living collection, which is offered by Sears and Kmart. 聽We are the nation's largest provider of home services, with more than 11 million service calls made annually. 聽Sears Holdings Corporation operates through its subsidiaries, including Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corporation. 聽For more information, visit Sears Holdings' website at .

SOURCE Sears Holdings