Wal-Mart readies large-scale move into solar power

http://news.com.com/2100-11395_3-6146851.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

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 looking to embark on what could be a massive solar power project--part of a long-term plan to convert to renewable energy sources.

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.

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.

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Their prices for compact fluorescent light bulbs are unbeatable.

They were selling 60W Philips CF bulbs in Maine last month for $3.88 a piece.

Maine had a $2 per bulb rebate on CF bulbs until Jan. 1 2007 (when it went down to $1.50) - which lowered the price of new CF bulbs to less than $2 a piece.

I bought enough bulbs to replace all the fixtures in my parent's home and a brother's new house - and didn't break the bank.

I will reserve judgment, however, on their moves into organic foods and solar energy though...

months, they've had a big push to promote their usage. I'm all in favor of supporting their effort. Al Gore also spoke at one of their meetings and he mentioned how big of impact Walmart could have on the environment, by not only becoming more green, but by also encouraging the use of CF bulbs.

I don't care for them for a lot of reasons, but I'm not going to knock them for promoting the sale CF bulbs at a low price.

I'm not ready to proclaim that they're green, progressive, and ready to share the wealth, but the company has become quite a bit more responsible in the past few years, even before the protest actions against them.

I have a couple friends who work at my local Wal-Mart, and they agree that the place is far from idea, but has improved considerably in the past few years. One of the local managers is even a staunch Democrat. So things are changing, and worth keeping an eye on, with a little "reinforcement" when required.

--p!

for sunlight.

Given the volume of stores and the broad geographical locations, they could put together quite a grid. Not only supplying power for their store, but selling to other stores in their mall locations or dumping the excess into the power grid. And that would provide lots of good PR to a demographic that certainly want to reach.

Walmart has 19 stores in Maine - each of these could be equipped with 100 kW PV systems.

That would be "only" 1.9 MW of PV, but when the sun shines, electrical demand from those stores would decline dramatically.

The cost of electricity is going to increase in Maine and NE. Equipping their stores with PV could prove a very wise move on their part indeed...(and might spur other Big Box stores to do the same)...

as much as I hate china-mart, they are the largest corp in the world now and as a result, when they make a move or change the business world watches.

So oddly, rather than our government lead the way in alternative energy (ha ha), china-mart will.