by Brianna Crandall — April 29, 2013—Global retail giant Walmart on April 15 continued to set the pace for commercial facilities around the world by announcing the company’s next step on the path to achieving its goal of being 100% supplied by renewable energy. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer committed to achieving the production or procurement of 7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy globally every year by the end of 2020, marking a 600% increase over its 2010 levels, and to reducing the energy intensity required to power the company’s buildings during the same period by 20%.
Walmart expects its six-fold increase in utilizing renewable energy projects to be equal to eliminating the need for roughly two U.S. fossil fuel power plants. Based on external estimates of projected energy costs and other factors, the two new commitments are anticipated to generate more than $1 billion annually in energy savings once fully implemented. Walmart notes that the energy savings result in both a cleaner environment and cost savings passed on to customers.
The company also expects to avoid 9 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the equivalent of taking 1.5 million cars off the road, in effect halting the growth of GHG emissions from the company’s largest GHG source — energy used to power buildings — by 2020. For the first time, the company is projecting this GHG decrease even with significant anticipated growth in stores and sales.
Already today, over the term of its power purchase agreements (PPAs), the renewable energy Walmart buys either meets or beats non-renewable power prices. In 2012 alone, Walmart added nearly 100 renewable energy projects, bringing the total number of projects in operation worldwide to nearly 300 today. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the retailer has more solar power capacity and number of systems than any other company in America. Walmart has also been cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as America’s leading user of onsite renewables.
In the United States alone, Walmart plans to install solar power on at least 1,000 of its rooftops and facilities by 2020, an increase from just over 200 solar projects currently in operation or under development. In addition to onsite solar, the company will continue to develop projects in wind, fuel cells, and other technologies. It will also procure offsite renewable energy from utility-scale projects, such as large wind, micro-hydro, and geothermal projects.
In order to meet its energy efficiency goal between now and 2020, Walmart projects to increase light-emitting diode (LED) usage in sales floor lighting, parking lots and other applications. Walmart will also focus on market-relevant scalable technologies, including high efficiency heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) and refrigeration systems, and sophisticated energy/building control systems.
These new commitments reinforce the sustainability goals Walmart established in 2005: to be supplied 100% by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain people and the environment. Walmart’s buildings are currently powered by 1.1 billion kWh of Walmart-driven renewable energy — reportedly enough for a U.S. city of 250,000 people. Added to the renewable energy the company receives from the grid, today, 21% of its buildings’ total electricity and 17% of the buildings’ total energy use is currently supplied by renewable energy.
