Regardless of your feelings about Wal-Mart as a corporation, it is no small matter when the corporate giant begins installing energy saving solar systems on its supercenters. This past week, Wal-Mart and BP, one of the world's largest producers of solar energy systems, announced that the retail corporation completed installation of a 623.7kW solar system on its supercenter in Santa Ana, CA. This is the first of 22 such systems to be installed on Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Supercenters and Wal-Mart distribution centers in Hawaii and California. This is a pilot project for Wal-Mart, but represents an initial step toward the corporation's stated "...goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy," in the words of David Ozment, Wal-Mart's director of energy.
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/partner/story?id=50170
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Comments: 15
http://www.walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=646
I'm not sure about the reasons for their location choices of the 'experimental' stores and then the pilot program in California and Hawaii... But good for them either way... it is good to see...
Ethan's points he mentions are still a concern... Hopefully they pioneer a way to make it all viable... The thought of what it takes to place all that merchandise in any one store strikes me whenever I enter a Wal-mart... (that and also wondering why the keep changing the floor layout... that gets annoying)...
Good article and thanks for this info.
He looks into things like this, thankfully!
A good addition to our local workforce.
Sustainability is here to stay. It is not a fad, it is not a marketing ploy. . . . It is in fact a part of what all of us are going to be doing with our businesses from here on out. It is not about higher margins and higher prices. It is about the elimination of waste. It is about making our businesses more effective. It is about transferring those benefits on to the consumer. And it is about taking chemicals and things we know aren't good for the environment and finding alternatives to those chemicals so we make products safer.
Lee Scott, Chairman CEO, Wal-Mart
I hope for a time when our population will not want to buy so much stuff (I am cleaning out my mom's apartment after she moved to Virginia to be closer to younger grandchildren). When that happens, we may be able to find other uses for these large buildings. If solar roofs get overbuilt at some time in the distant future, living roofs are an option.
The tax laws affect how much building goes on. In some states, companies plan to rebuild when they have used all the depreciation they can. This is a spur to covering ground with buildings. Perhaps this will be changed some day.
One of the best things about Walmart's using solar is that the Chinese may get more interested in solar. To affect world pollution positively, China needs to use more solar and less coal, as soon as possible.
Thanks for the posting.
True. Fortunately, China has committed $265 Billion to renewables by 2020.
China plans $265 billion renewables spending
I also think that that is where a lot of solar cells might end up being made for the rest of the world.
I followed one of the links in the article to a German manufacturer and from there to a company in Arizona called Sacred Power. What a name! They have interesting products and are four months out on at least one of them, because of the strength of demand.
Thanks so much for the postings.