Wal-Mart selects 20 capitols for energy audits
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced partnerships with 19 states and Puerto Rico to help them save on energy and electricity costs at their capitols.
Wal-Mart will pay engineering experts to perform energy audits at the capitols and recommend ways to save energy, lower electricity costs and reduce greenhouse emissions, company officials told state leaders Tuesday at the National Governors Association's State Summit on Clean Power and Efficiency.
Over the past three years, Wal-Mart has worked to cut energy usage at its stores and suppliers. Through its Greening State Capitols partnership with the National Governors Association, Wal-Mart now will start working with the states.
"We want to offer our services and expertise and get them to a point where they can at least see the savings within five years," spokesman Nate Hurst said.
Wal-Mart officials said that since the company is the largest employer in many states, it is important for it to work with state governments.
The program also will help Wal-Mart market its audit services to other companies, Hurst said.
The states included in Tuesday's announcement are Missouri, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Engineers will visit the capitols in 2008 and 2009 to examine lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning systems, refrigeration equipment and building structures.
Wal-Mart will then provide recommendations based on technology it uses to reduce energy consumption at its stores, said Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability.
The announcement was attended by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, both Republicans.
Sebelius and Hoeven said their states weren't part of the program because similar audits have already been conducted at their capitols.
Pawlenty said the public-private partnership was an example of how governors can lead an effort to become greener.
"The cleanest and cheapest energy is the energy we save," Pawlenty said.
