Wal-Mart Buys Wind; Steps up Food Giving

Duke Energy is getting a big customer.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a major purchase of wind power from Duke’s wind farm in Notrees, Texas, and will start receiving the first of some 226 million kWh of power in April 2009.

The purchase is expected to supply up to 15 percent of Wal-Mart’s energy load in its approximately 360 Texas stores and facilities.

Wal-Mart has a stated goal of being 100 percent supplied by renewable energy, and the wind purchase follows experiments with solar power in 22 locations in Hawaii and California, where it has allowed panels to be installed on its rooftops with an agreement to purchase the power generated.

Wal-Mart estimates the wind purchase will remove 139,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road.

The purchase puts Wal-Mart third among retailers in green power purchases and 15th among national companies, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership rankings.

Wal-Mart also announced a big increase in its food donations to Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest. As part of its efforts to achieve zero waste at its more than 4,000 stores, Wal-Mart has been donating huge amounts of items food banks rarely receive such as meat, dairy and produce.

Wal-Mart, which piloted the program in the Fort Smith market and has already rolled out to Sam’s Clubs nationwide, estimates it will donate 70 million pounds of food to Feeding America’s network by the end of 2009.

The company will also donate $2.5 million for the purchase of refrigerated trucks to preserve the “cold chain” of custody as the food items are transported from stores to food banks.