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Committee hears about Wal-Mart's energy saving efforts Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A state task force hopes to take a page from the world's largest retailer in designing future schools and other government facilities to be more energy efficient. The Task Force on Sustainable Building Design and Practices heard a report Monday on efforts by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to save energy and reduce waste in its stores worldwide. Don Moseley, experimental projects coordinator and manager with Bentonville-based Wal-Mart, said conservation efforts that initially began as a public relations effort have blossomed into actual cost savings benefiting both shareholders and customers, and also could influence other retailers to step up conservation initiatives. "The momentum has really shifted in the last three years," Moseley said. Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, a task force co-chairman, said Wal-Mart's involvement is speeding the development of energy-saving construction technology. "Obviously Wal-Mart has undertaken a huge sustainability effort," Broadway said. "What they are doing is in a retailer sense, but what we want to learn is some applications that we can apply back to state buildings, higher ed institutions and school buildings, in terms of utility cost and savings, energy efficiency." Mary Jane Murray, an architect on the task force, said improving the way buildings are made by recycling materials and using energy saving techniques not only helps reduce costs but also improves the environment for building inhabitants. Murray said studies have shown that schools see a 20 percent increase in test scores and businesses see improved productivity when inhabitants are exposed to natural lighting rather than fluorescent lighting. During Monday's meeting at the state Capitol, Moseley discussed, among other things, Wal-Mart's use of natural sunlight on store sales floors and reclamation of heat produced by refrigeration equipment to supply stores' hot water needs. He also said fluorescent lights in many stores have been replaced with low-energy LED lighting. Moseley said the company hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in existing stores by 20 percent over the next seven years and is working to make new stores 30 percent more efficient in the next four years. To study state-of-the-art energy savings techniques, the company also has built experimental stores in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colo., he said. Wind turbines are being used at those stores to reduce electricity costs, and waste cooking oil and automotive oil are being used to heat the buildings. At the Texas store, rainwater is being collected and used for irrigation, he said, while 500 tons of concrete from the old Denver Stapleton Airport runway was used to build the foundation for the Colorado store. Both stores also utilize state-of-the-art solar panels and other conservation measures, he said, such as waterless urinals in customer bathrooms to save water. Moseley said the majority of the new energy-saving initiatives in both stores are being monitored by government laboratories to determine whether they are economically feasible. Broadway said the task force hopes to have a report on its work and recommendations completed by the end of the year, in time for the 2007 legislative session. |
