January 3, 2007 11:19 AM PST
Wal-Mart readies large-scale move into solar power
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The company put out an RFP (request for proposal) last month to solar electric suppliers and expects to receive responses early this month, according to a representative. The move is part of a long-term plan to convert to renewable energy sources.
Wal-Mart is keeping the details of the proposal under wraps as the process is still ongoing.
However, one person who saw the proposal said that if completed, it could amount to a significantly large installation--on the order of 100 megawatts of power over the next five years.
"To put that into perspective, the solar system currently being installed at Google headquarters in California--the largest single corporate solar installation in history--is 1.6 MW, about 1/60th the size," wrote Joel Makower, a clean-technology consultant who saw the proposal but is not bidding on it.
Makower said the Wal-Mart proposal called for a system that could be replicated across its stores in five states and make use of available roofing space.
Wal-Mart has set up experimental stores in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colo. These stores are already using renewable power sources, including solar and wind.
"We will continue to use the learnings from those stores to find ways to achieve our renewable energy goals in our other stores across the nation," said spokesman Kory Lundberg.
Corporations take a shine to solar
Although Wal-Mart's bid may not result in any investment, the move is significant as an indicator of growing corporate interest in sustainable practices and technologies.
Installing solar power is a well understood--and potentially visible--way to use renewable energy. Aided by government incentives such as tax breaks, solar electric systems are becoming more cost-effective as solar companies devise new technologies and target specific markets.
Google is using a flat-panel solar power system installed by a subsidiary of Energy Innovations, a company that specializes in solar systems for flat roofs like those found in office parks.
Microsoft, too, has gotten into the solar game. Last year, it equipped its Silicon Valley headquarters with more than 2,000 solar panels capable of generating 480 kilowatts at peak capacity.
Electronics manufacturer Sharp last year started operation of a plant in Kameyama, Japan, which is capable of generating 5.2 megawatts of power through solar photo voltaics.
Renewable energy is central to Wal-Mart's environmental efforts as well. The company has a vice president of corporate strategy and sustainability, Andy Ruben, and its corporate policy is to reduce its "carbon footprint" and greenhouse gas emissions.
Its three specific, long-term environmental goals are: using 100 percent renewable energy; creating zero waste and selling products from sustainable resources.
In a speech in October of last year, Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott provided more detail on the company's short-term goals (click for PDF), including a commitment to invest $500 million a year in energy efficiency and technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Scott said the company intends to reduce greenhouse gases from its retail locations around the world by 20 percent in the next seven years.
In the next four years, he said the company is working to develop building prototypes that will be 25 to 30 percent more energy efficient and produce up to 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
(Clarification: Google is using a subsidiary of Energy Innovations, not the parent company, for installation of its solar panel system.)
See more CNET content tagged:
renewable energy,
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,
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RFP,
emission
a TON of junk, the employees are not very helpful and the
lighting hurts my eyes. That's not to mention their various
nefarious business practices.
But I will give credit where credit is due. It is great to see the
country's largest retailer look to go solar. Such a move is good
for the environment, will bring down the prices of solar for
consumers, bring a lot of press to this issue and save them
money in the long run.
I was also heard on NPR yesterday that they are going to really
start pushing compact florescents hard in order to get
customers buy these energy saving bulbs.
I never would suspect I would say this but: Way to go, Walmart!
Now can you work on paying your employees a decent wage?
out in various patterns with gravel between them. Below the
bricks typically sits several feet of gravel.
The gravel filters out the oil, gas and gunk from cars and trucks,
cleaning the water before it enters the ground.
Proponents say their permeable system will absorb every drop of
water that falls on it, even during the heaviest storms ?
eliminating all runoff.
In addition, it is packed with micro-organisms that feast on all
the grit and grime that falls on it.
While the costs are about 20 to 30 percent more than asphalt,
the parking lot will conceivably last for half a century, unlike the
five- to 10-year life span of asphalt driveways, lots and roads.
Because the water is completely absorbed by the permeable
surface ? no matter how hard it rains ? this approach makes
ditches, drains and sewer pipes unnecessary.
That means that in many cases, after a few decades ? or sooner
depending how quickly the asphalt is replaced ? a permeable
surface will prove cheaper than asphalt."
See:
http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searchstory.asp?id=265227
From:
New ?asphalt? really better?
New surface preserves aquifers, slows runoff and is cleaner,
proponents say
By Patrick Garmoe
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, January 01, 2007
-RFP prob specifies "non-union" labor preferred.
-How ironic that WM is now pushing this while continuing to deny workers health insurance or allowing them to unionize to bargain for benefits such as health insurance while sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in profits.
-Seemingly a good neighbor on one hand with solar energy initiatives while being cruel to low wage employees who must work 2 jobs to support their families because of WM's caps on the number of hours worked each week.
Hey, cnet, how about a story on solar technology for the masses... solar ovens, phone chargers, solar radios, pc chargers... what's out there today?
Now, wal mart squeezes its workers and suppliers, even paying such low wages that Walmart workws in many states are also receiving food stamps and medicaid.
Wal mart has moved millions of american jobs overseas, if they could figure out a way to import $10 a day chinese workers to install all that solar power collection, they would.
including the twenty acre parking lot. At the top, a turbine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower
Benefits:
1: simplicity
2: "indoor parking" -- no longer will walmart
shoppers have to risk getting wet btwn their
cars and the door
drawbacks:
1: unknown how a huge 10mil clear plastic sheet
will handle midwestern winds and microbursts