Experts Talk About How Walmart's Energy Efficiency is Shared with Competitors

Company leads the way in energy-saving technologies

Six larger utility companies banded together in order to shift the refrigerator business forever. They created a program that would spur Super Efficient Refrigerators. The incentive program was called the Golden Carrot, and the goal was to create incentives for manufacturers so that a design for high efficiency refrigerators could be made. The companies created a $30 million winner-take-all program, and they were joined by government agencies to influence the shift in the global markets.

Now, 20 years ago it was a necessity that all the entities worked together, as none had a severe influence to drive such a program. Today, transformation of that sort can be made by a single party: Walmart.

While Walmart may have detractors, the leader in energy efficiency is undeniably doing its part in that respect. The company is also generous with just how it accomplished such a feat. It shares its knowledge of technology with other retailers. That is a move not seen in many other facets of the corporate game.

Wal Mart and General Electric executives recently talked about efforts to make Walmart as low-cost as possible across the globe. The main accomplishment is the now well-known LED lighting for refrigerated cases and exterior lighting. The importance of the bulbs is massive, as the lighting uses up only 50% that of traditional bulbs.

VP of International Design and Construction for Walmart, Charles Zimmerman, and Steven Briggs, who works as General Electric's General Manager for Global Product Management, shared insights into the changes that made such a difference.

“While we always strive to obtain the lowest possible first cost, that isn’t the ultimate driver of the decision. We look at fully loaded costs, we look at all interactions. For example, take our freezer case LED lighting rolled out in 2005. When we shared our results with our competition, they said ‘we can’t make the economic return work.”

“LED lighting lasts as long as freezer case, (so you completely eliminate your maintenance cost related to the lighting) and by installing 50% less wattage you introduce 50% less heat load so your refrigeration load is less, thus less energy… The reality is that the energy savings associated with JUST the lighting is the smallest component of the payback.”

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