Thursday 12 December 2013

Wal-Mart now draws more solar power than 38 US States

www.bloomberg.com
25 Oct 2013

In the race for commercial solar power, Wal-Mart is killing it. The company now has almost twice as much capacity as second-place Costco. A better comparison: Wal-Mart is converting more sun into energy than 38 US states.

In the beer department, Wal-Mart recently decided alcohol was good business and vowed to double sales by 2016. The result: 500 reps from the alcohol industry converged on the Sam's Club auditorium in Bentonville, Arkansas, for an "adult beverages summit" focused on Wal-Mart. "It's even selling it in garden centers", Bloomberg News's Renee Dudley wrote in August.

With solar, will Wal-Mart have the same industry-focusing presence its had with booze? If small business is the heart of the US economy, Wal-Mart is the gluteus maximus--the power muscle. The company redefines global supply chains and crunches cost reductions in just about every area it touches. More than 80 publicly traded companies rely on Wal-Mart for 10% or more of their annual revenue, according to Bloomberg data.

"When we find something that works we go big with it", the company's website proclaims.

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