 Aug. 27. 2008 - Wal-Mart Canada CEO David
Cheesewright has outlined a bold plan to cut energy use by more than 30% in all Canadian Wal-Mart stores opening in 2009.
Speaking to a gathering of 1,600 municipal leaders in Ontario, Cheesewright introduced details of "Wal-Mart HE," a high-efficiency design for stores with various environmentally preferable features and operations. (Previous iterations of the green-building project have been trialed in the U.S. in Illinois and Nevada.) Key features include:
- Capturing waste heat from refrigerators to heat air in other areas of the store.
- Installing display lights that turn off and on based on customer-motion detectors.
- Cutting energy used to light sales floors by 20%.
- Installing LED-powered storefront signs that use 90% less energy than traditional signage.
- Reducing the size of the stores, thereby eliminating the need to heat, cool, and ventilate excess space.
"Wal-Mart Canada has been intensely dedicated to environmental sustainability over the past three years, and perhaps no change has been as significant as those made to the way we build and operate our buildings," said Cheesewright. "We are confident that Wal-Mart stores will be among the greenest on the block."
"Some might say we're just another company trying to endear itself to the Canadian public by hopping on the green movement," he continued. "That perspective misses the point. Our focus on sustainability is as beneficial to our business as it is to the environment. For Wal-Mart, there is no distinction between environmental sustainability and business sustainability - it's the same thing."
Wal-Mart is planning multiple green-prototype stores in Canada, including a store in Burlington, Ontario, constructed with a rare commercial application of geothermal heating and a daylight harvesting system with lights that rise, dim, and turn off on the basis of brightness levels from skylights. The company will also be testing a new rooftop solar array on another store slated to open in 2009. |
