Walmart Rockets from 15th to Third in EPA Green Power Rankings

by | Feb 1, 2012

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Walmart has shot to third place on the EPA’s rankings of the country’s top green power purchasers, from 15th place just last quarter.

The Green Power Partnership ranking, for the retailer’s Texas and California facilities alone, pushes Whole Foods down to fourth place.

According to the EPA’s data, Walmart’s facilities in the two states use 872,382,088 kWh of green power a year, or 28 percent of the company’s electricity use in those states. These Walmart facilities also rank second among retailers, second among on-site green power generators and third among Fortune 500 companies on the EPA’s lists.

Intel and Kohl’s maintain their long-time first and second place positions on the overall rankings. Johnson & Johnson moves from sixth to fifth place, and Starbucks drops from fifth to seventh. The top generator of on-site green electricity is again Kimberly-Clark Corporation, which generates 193,347,000 kWh a year, or eight percent of its usage, from biomass.

Walmart says it has a long-term goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy, and will use its success in Texas and California as a model for its larger operations.

The company’s purchases of wind energy in Texas provide up to 15 percent of the total energy for more than 360 outlets in that state. The electricity comes from a Duke Energy wind farm in Notrees, Texas, which produces  about 226 million kWh a year.

In California Walmart plans to expand its solar portfolio to more than 130 rooftops, comprising 75 percent of its stores, by the end of 2013. The installations will provide 20 to 30 percent of each facility’s total electric needs, the company says.

In Mexico, Walmart is buying energy from a local wind farm for 348 facilities and has installed solar panels on two facilities. And in Canada, the company is testing geothermal, fuel cells, solar and wind, and says it is the largest corporate purchaser of low-emission power through a local provider of renewable energy.

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