Sustainable Buildings
Our experimental stores were built to help us reach our three long-term environmental goals: - To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy
- To create zero waste
- To sell products that sustain our resources and the environment
We are also committed to designing a store prototype that is 25-30 percent more efficient by 2009, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in existing stores by 20 percent by 2012.  Solar panels on our McKinney, Texas, experimental store Our experimental storesWe have two stores, one in McKinney, Texas, and one in Aurora, Colorado, that show how working together can help solve issues. Engineers, architects, scientists, contractors, landscape designers, and owners created functional facilities that save energy, conserve natural resources and reduce pollution. They also created a more pleasant shopping experience for our customer and a healthier work environment for our associates. These stores are living laboratoriesAt these stores, we test new technologies and products that we can potentially incorporate into all of our stores. Some tested technologies from our experimental stores — like LED lighting — are already making their way into stores across the country — at Wal-Mart stores and the facilities of our competitors. Our high-efficiency storesIn 2007, we opened three High Efficiency stores, called HE.1s, that use 20 percent less energy than a typical Supercenter. Located in Kansas City, Missouri, Rockton Illinois, and Highland Village, Texas, these stores were constructed using recycled building materials and energy-saving lighting methods. They operate using an environmentally-friendly, 100 percent integrated water-source heating, cooling and refrigeration system. Other features of the HE.1 stores include reflective white roofs, low-flow bathroom faucets, LED lights and an advanced daylight harvesting system. Our ultra high-efficiency storeIn January 2008, we opened the first of four next generation High Efficiency stores (HE.2s) in Romeoville, Illinois. The store builds upon what we learned from the HE.1 and experimental stores by incorporating a secondary loop refrigeration system. In combination with other energy-saving and environmentally friendly building aspects, this technology allows the store to be 25 percent more energy efficient than the 2005 baseline, and reduce refrigerant use by 90 percent. Solar PowerWe are also experimenting with solar power. In 2007, we announced a solar power pilot in 22 locations throughout California and Hawaii. When fully implemented, the aggregate purchase could be one of the top 10 largest-ever solar power purchases in the United States.
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