Retailer Reduces Environmental Impact
Wal-Mart High Efficiency (HE) pilot stores help the world’s largest retailer
reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
As the world’s largest company, Wal-Mart has a tremendous impact on the environment.[1]
Over the past few years, the company has been building High
Efficiency (HE) pilot stores to reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas
emissions.
Wal-Mart introduced the sixth generation of HE pilot stores last summer in
Sacramento, California. The store is climate-specific, using a combination of
evaporative cooling and radiant flooring technologies to cool the stores. Cool
water is produced in roof-mounted cooling towers and then pumped through the
radiant flooring system to cool the retail space.
This system uses less energy than traditional air conditioning. HE pilot stores
also feature daylight harvesting through skylights, which reduces lighting energy
by up to 75%, and LED lighting, which is 70% more efficient than traditional
fluorescent lighting. Overall, the Sacramento store is 30% more energy efficient
than the 2005 Wal-Mart supercenter baseline.[2] Wal-Mart uses energy management
systems in all of their U.S. stores and Sam’s Club locations.[3]
It is important for electrical distributors to be aware of what retailers are
doing in terms of sustainability. According to a 2009 survey of NAED members,
44% of respondents identified retailers as an end user of energy management
solutions. For more information on selling energy management solutions to commercial
customers, please refer to NAED’s “Selling
to the Commercial Market“ case study.
[1] http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/FactSheets/
accessed August 5, 2009.
[2] http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/9203.aspx
accessed August 5, 2009.
[3] http://walmartstores.com/Sustainability/9124.aspx
accessed August 5, 2009.