The corperate world moving towards renewable energy news thread

[ScienceRocks]

The corporate world moving towards renewable energy news thread oh'yessss, they're finding it profit making.



Another 200 Walgreens stores to go solar

Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the U.S., will add another 200 solar panel installations at stores across the country.

The drugstore giant is working with SoCore Energy on the installations in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, which will bring the company’s total number of solar energy system up to 350.

“We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and leading the retail industry in use of green technology,” said Thomas Connolly, Walgreens vice president of facilities development.

“Because we operate more than 8,000 stores, we believe our implementation of sustainable energy technology can have a significant positive impact on the nation’s environment while also creating jobs,” he continued.

Another 200 Walgreens stores to go solar - Solar Tribune


Walgreens to build the country’s first net zero energy store
Walgreens to build the country?s first net zero energy store - Solar Tribune

The largest drug store chain in the U.S., Walgreens, plans to build what it says will be the first net zero energy retail store in the country, located in Evanston, Illinois.

That means the store will produce at least the energy required to fulfill its own electricity needs, if not more.

800 solar PV panels will be key to the plan, as well as wind turbines, geothermal technology, energy-efficient building materials, LED lighting and ultra-high-efficiency refrigeration.

“We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and leading the retail industry in use of green technology,” said Thomas Connolly, Walgreens vice president of facilities development.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Walmart announces new PV installations in Hawaii and Ohio

Over the past week, Walmart installed solar PV modules at stores in Hawaii and Ohio, moving closer toward its goal of using 100 percent renewable energy.

Three stores in Hawaii now have PV installations, from solar firm SunEdison, bringing the total number of Hawaiian Walmart stores powered by solar energy to six.

Each of these systems will produce over 400,000 kWh of electricity, displacing about 320 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. That’s equivalent to removing 67 cars off the road for each system, each year.

“We are committed to making decisions that are not only good for business and the environment, but also allow us to pass on savings to our customers,” said Rey Armijo , Hawaii Market Manager for Walmart.

Senate Energy & Environment Committee Chair and State Senator Mike Gabbard congratulated Walmart, and said the installations will “reduce their electricity bills and do good for the environment.”

Walmart announces new PV installations in Hawaii and Ohio - Solar Tribune



Walmart to install 100th solar power project

Yesterday, Walmart announced another six solar panel projects for stores in Colorado, bringing the total number of solar installations at U.S. Walmart stores, facilities and affiliates to 100.

The installations, owned and operated by SolarCity, will total 2 MW and power stores located in the Denver metro area. Walmart expects that these installations will generate almost 3 million kWh of energy annually, enough to power over 225 homes and offset over 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

“With these six solar power systems in Colorado, we reach an exciting milestone of 100 solar power installations on U.S. Walmart stores, clubs, and distribution centers,” said Marty Gilbert, Walmart director of energy.

“While Walmart’s investment in solar technology has significantly grown in recent years, we know there is still much work to be done to reach our environmental goals and look forward to continuing to work with states like Colorado and suppliers like SolarCity to take full advantage of solar power.”

http://solartribune.com/2012-04-12-walmart-to-install-100th-solar-power-project/




8 more Walmart stores go solar in Massachusetts
http://solartribune.com/8-more-walmart-stores-go-solar-in-massachusetts-2013-05-22/

Eight new solar installations recently went live at Walmart stores across Massachusetts.

The installations totalled almost 10,000 solar panels and will generate 2.8 million kWh of electricity each year – saving over 1,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, which is about equivalent to taking 309 cars off the road.

“The stores in Massachusetts demonstrate our commitment to increasing the share of renewable energy that powers our stores and improving energy efficiency,” said David Ozment , senior director of energy at Walmart, at an event at Walmart’s store in Walpole, MA.

“We believe in helping our customers live better by providing every day low cost and more environmentally friendly alternatives, like renewables. It’s our goal to eventually be supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.”

 

[ScienceRocks]

Solar capacity among U.S. corporations grows 48%

According to the 2013 Solar Means Business report, Walmart is the leader among American companies going solar, with 89 MW of installed capacity at 215 locations.

The report was compiled by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Vote Solar Initiative (Vote Solar), and reveals the top 25 corporate users of solar in the country, which are: Walmart, Costco, Kohl’s, Apple, IKEA, Macy’s, Johnson & Johnson, McGraw Hill, Staples, Campbell’s Soup, U.S. Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kaiser Permanente, Volkswagen, Walgreens, Target, Safeway, FedEx, Intel, L’OREAL, General Motors, Toys “R” Us, White Rose Foods, Toyota, and Dow Jones & Company.

Together, these 25 corporations alone have 445 MW of installed solar capacity, 48 percent more than in 2012, across 30 states and Puerto Rico.

According to SEIA and Vote Solar, these 25 companies have around 1000 solar installations all up, and 117 million people – or a third of the country’s population – live within 20 miles of one of these solar installations!

Solar capacity among U.S. corporations grows 48% - Solar Tribune

 

[ScienceRocks]

IKEA Produces Enough Clean Energy To Match A Third Of Its Global Energy Use, And Keeps Going

Continuing its impressive commitment to being 100 percent carbon neutral by 2020, Swedish retailer IKEA announced the purchase of a 46-megawatt wind farm in Alberta, Canada. The 20-turbine farm is expected to generate 161 gigawatt-hours of power each year, or more than double the total energy consumption of IKEA Canada. The output is equivalent to the consumption of 32 IKEA stores or the average power consumption of 13,500 Canadian homes, the company said.

Globally, IKEA has committed to 157 wind turbines and has installed around 550,000 solar panels on its buildings, and in fiscal year 2013, IKEA produced enough renewable energy to match 37 percent of its consumption.

The company’s investments in renewable energy are a “win-win-win,” said Kerri Molinaro, president of IKEA Canada. “We are able to support the transition to a low carbon future, reduce our energy and operating costs, and pass those benefits on to our customers by continuing to offer high quality home furnishings at low prices.”

With this latest purchase, IKEA becomes the largest retail wind energy investor in Canada. Alberta, perhaps better known for its increasing production of tar sands and accompanying spills, has 5,000 megawatts of easily accessible wind energy, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association. But “the structure of the province’s current competitive electricity market makes it very difficult for new wind farms to be financeable and to secure the revenues needed to be economically viable,” the association said.

IKEA Produces Enough Clean Energy To Match A Third Of Its Global Energy Use, And Keeps Going | ThinkProgress

 

[ScienceRocks]

New Apple Plant Will Run Entirely On Clean Energy

This week Apple announced its plans to open a new factory in Mesa, Arizona — a facility that “will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.” The move will bring a manufacturing boost to the state, creating 2,000 new jobs, all without requiring additional energy from Mesa.

“Banking on Arizona’s abundant sunshine, Apple will create a new solar grid in the city for the facility’s power,” Gigaom reported. In addition to solar, the plant will also use geothermal energy, according to Forbes.

As Dave Roberts elaborated, “Arizona has unbounded potential for solar and a rapidly growing solar industry.” First, it has the highest solar insolation of any U.S. state, which means it gets a tremendous amount of sunlight. In addition, a study out of Arizona State University’s business school combined several factors, including costs, to create an “Optimal Deployment of Solar Index” and determined the most promising state for solar production is Arizona.

New Apple Plant Will Run Entirely On Clean Energy | ThinkProgress

 

[flacaltenn]

Crain's Chicago Business : Subscription Center

But one of SoCore's biggest deals so far, installing rooftop solar panels on 53 Walgreen Co. stores in Ohio, relies on a low-interest loan from the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority for more than half of its $9.9-million financing, with federal tax credits accounting for another 30%.

“Why Ohio? You'd say Ohio doesn't have much sun,” says Menno Enters, Deerfield-based Walgreen's director of energy and sustainability. “But Ohio has incentives for a company like Walgreen to pursue.”

IOWords -- "Fleece the bastards.. Let's go into the energy biz.. Ohio's buying"....

I think the premise of the thread ought to "Companies Smart enough to Take Free Money"..

Oh and solar isn't shaky enough in Ohio.. Walgreens is gonna go suck on the nearly broke ass Illinois tit too..

Why did Ohio put up all that money? Because they were told it would create jobs. What did each of the jobs created COST? Only around $600,000 a piece..

Such a deal......................

 

[ScienceRocks]

Walgreens Opens First Net Zero Retail Store
Walgreens Opens First Net Zero Retail Store

Sporting two wind turbines, 850 solar panels and a geothermal system burrowed 550 feet into the ground, Walgreens has opened the first net-zero energy retail store in the US.

Walgreens is the largest drug store chain in the nation.

Located in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, Walgreen's president of operations Mark Wagner said at the ribbon cutting, "We have facilities that utilize wind turbines, solar installations and geothermal technologies, but this is the first time we are bringing all three of these technologies and many more together in one place. Our purpose as a company is to help people get, stay and live well, and that includes making our planet more livable by conserving resources and reducing pollution."

Walgreens is truly becoming an environmental leader. 150 stores use solar, one runs on geothermal and a distribution center in Texas runs on wind. More than 5000 stores have energy management systems and use LEDs for cooler and freezer lighting. 15 distribution centers have achieved net zero waste. It was one of the first to install electric vehicle charging stations and now 400 stores have them.

 

[Zander]

I love the "idea" of solar- free power from the sun!! Woohoo! What's not to like?

I find it quite ironic that the solar business model (completely reliant on government incentives) is itself "non sustainable".

It's a business model only a bureaucrat could love...

 

[ScienceRocks]

SO says the one that supports fossil fuels that rely on subsidies and the military defending over sea's fuel sources.

The sudden boom in fracking—or hydraulic fracturing for natural gas—relied in large part on massive government subsidies handed out over decades. While natural gas exploration has been touted as a triumph of industry and innovation, an article by the Associated Press details the favoritism natural gas exploration has received from the federal government over the past three decades. The industry has received $100 million in research dollars and billions in tax breaks to find and capture the shale gas that many early observers thought was a waste of time. Geologist Dan Steward, who worked with the Texas natural gas firm Mitchell Energy in 1981, said that early on “probably 90% of the people” doubted the profitability of shale gas. -

See more at: http://www.emagazine.com/daily-news/how-the-government-built-fracking#sthash.p7XfOjSm.dpuf

Fracking Developed With Decades Of Government Investment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/23/fracking-developed-government_n_1907178.html

PITTSBURGH (AP) — It sounds like a free-market success story: a natural gas boom created by drilling company innovation, delivering a vast new source of cheap energy without the government subsidies that solar and wind power demand.

"The free market has worked its magic," the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, an industry group, claimed over the summer.

The boom happened "away from the greedy grasp of Washington," the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank, wrote in an essay this year.

If bureaucrats "had known this was going on," the essay went on, "surely Washington would have done something to slow it down, tax it more, or stop it altogether."

But those who helped pioneer the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, recall a different path. Over three decades, from the shale fields of Texas and Wyoming to the Marcellus in the Northeast, the federal government contributed more than $100 million in research to develop fracking, and billions more in tax breaks.

Now, those industry pioneers say their own effort shows that the government should back research into future sources of energy — for decades, if need be — to promote breakthroughs. For all its success now, many people in the oil and gas industry itself once thought shale gas was a waste of time.

"There's no point in mincing words. Some people thought it was stupid," said Dan Steward, a geologist who began working with the Texas natural gas firm Mitchell Energy in 1981. Steward estimated that in the early years, "probably 90 percent of the people" in the firm didn't believe shale gas would be profitable.

This shit destroys our water tables.... What makes me sick is the fact that you have to lie, lie and lie some more about the government pumping money into your dirty energy.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Now I am a supporter of government investment. So I am a'okk with new tech being developed the way most things have the past 60 years.

 

[RGR]

This shit destroys our water tables.... What makes me sick is the fact that you have to lie, lie and lie some more about the government pumping money into your dirty energy.

Fracking isn't done on water tables. Duh. Stick to parroting advocates for your favorite pipe dream, you don't do so well when you try and write something yourself.

 

[R.C. Christian]

Meanwhile, Obama Motor Cars flagship electric car, the VOLT, gets all of it's batteries charged from coal fired plants!

 

[RGR]

Meanwhile, Obama Motor Cars flagship electric car, the VOLT, gets all of it's batteries charged from coal fired plants!

Not mine. Some coal, certainly, but a nice chunk of clean burning, abundant and cheap natural gas, a smidgen of the windmills here in Colorado, and even more from the solar panels on my roof.

Diversify America!! Break the bonds of the local extortion stores, use domestically produced energy and stop contributing to the trade imbalance!! Unite!!