Retail giant Wal-Mart plans to begin using lights tested in its experimental “green” store in Aurora in all newly built stores beginning next year.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart on Monday said it is generally pleased with the results generated at its two environmental test stores in Aurora and McKinney, Texas. The two stores include a variety of energy-saving or environmentally friendly experiments that the company says could influence future retail building.
The store at 3301 N. Tower Road in Aurora has been open for a year.
“When we first opened the (test) stores, we made a commitment to monitor and test them for three years,” said Charles Zimmerman, vice president of prototype and new- format development for Wal-Mart. “I don’t think in our wildest expectations would we have planned on implementing part of it in our building program within the first year.”
Light-emitting diode, or LED, lights – which use less electricity, contribute less heat and have a longer lifespan than traditional light bulbs – will be among the first experiments to be implemented companywide.
Beginning in January, the lights will be used in freezer cases in all newly built Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. Unlike older Wal-Mart discount stores, newer Wal- Mart Supercenters stock groceries.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden is serving as a third-party monitor for the Aurora store.
Michael Deru, a senior engineer at the NREL, said he’s encouraged by efficiency the company has achieved by placing doors on refrigerator cases that hold items such as cheese and lunchmeat, which typically are not in cases with doors on them.
“There is typically a battle between the marketing side and the efficiency side, but Wal-Mart is proving that it doesn’t hurt sales to have doors on them,” he said.
To be sure, however, the company wants to place the doors in an existing store to verify that they don’t change purchasing patterns before adding the doors on a widespread basis, Zimmerman said.
Other components of the store, including a wind turbine that was expected to produce a tiny fraction of the store’s electrical energy, have so far been disappointing.
“They’ve had some technical difficulties with the wind turbine,” Deru said. “When it’s operating, it’s about half of what was expected.”
Deru said he is unsure if expectations for the wind turbine were too high from the outset. Generally, Aurora is not windy enough to adequately power such a turbine, he said.
While it will continue to monitor the stores for two more years, Wal-Mart plans to move forward on the construction of four prototype stores next year. Those stores will implement certain components of the existing test stores and are expected to be 21 percent more efficient than typical Wal-Mart stores, Zimmerman said.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
