JC Penney's Peabody Store a State Winner in National Energy Contest

JC Penney joined the national energy race and emerged a winner. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the winners of its 2012 Energy Star National Building Competition earlier this week and the department store ranked as a local winner for its location at the Northshore Mall.

The point of the contest, which is in its third year, was to see how much schools, businesses and government buildings could save on energy in a year. For JC Penney's Peabody store that was $31,500 savings by reducing its energy usage by 24.7 percent.

Competitors tracked their month-to-month energy consumption with an online energy tracking tool from the EPA.

The national winner was the Demarest Elementary School in New Jersey, which reduced its energy usage by more than 52 percent, saving around $75,000.

The Boston Business Journal reports that 76 entries came from Massachusetts and two winners were picked from each state -- JC Penney and the JFK Federal Building for the Bay State.