An excellent social and business strategy for the planet’s biggest store, who, like most of us, has become much more environmentally oriented.
Wal-Mart goes 'green'
The world's largest retailer reports on its big experiment in environmental awareness, an endeavor that could burnish its image and sales.
By Abigail Goldman Times Staff Writer November 13, 2006
AURORA, COLO. — Wind turbines, rows of tall windows, a 200-foot-long dimpled-metal wall and shiny rooftop solar panels are just hints of what's to come.
Here, next to a busy freeway in suburban Denver, is tomorrow's Wal-Mart today. And it's getting a lot of attention.
For the last year, this experimental Wal-Mart Supercenter has been testing ways to be more environmentally sensitive in everything it does.
What works here won't stay in Aurora. The world's largest retailer wants ideas it can use in all of its more than 6,600 stores around the globe.
"The goal has never been to build demonstration stores," said Andy Ruben, who heads the company's environmental efforts. "The experimental stores are successful when the learnings get applied to all stores.
"And the changes are likely to spread beyond Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "It's transformational," said Charles Lockwood, an environmental real estate consultant in Los Angeles, whose article "Building the Green Way" appeared in June's Harvard Business Review.
"By their size, they're forcing manufacturers to come up with more earth-friendly, energy-efficient products, which then become the industry norm.
"Wal-Mart is releasing a progress report today on its Colorado experiment in advance of this week's international conference here on "green" building. One of the meeting's highlights: a tour of the Aurora store.
