Wal-Mart prototype slashes energy by 45 percent

Having been to Las Vegas, Greenbang can testify that using less energy typically means taking one of those weird golf buggy things rather than their own legs to travel the 500 metres from the restaurant to the roulette wheel or seeing how long you can lie motionless beside the pool, contemplating how many free drinks you can skank if you play the one dollar tables.

But back from Greenbang’s revery of Nevada-based laziness and underspending to other energy-cutting news from Sin City, this time courtesy of bigger-than-the-Grand-Canyon retail giant Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has unwrapped HE.5, a Las Vegas store which uses 45 percent less energy than the average Wal-Mart supercentre. Wal-Mart provides this blurb about how it works:

The HE.5 store features advancements in heating, cooling, refrigeration and lighting to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the store takes the integrated water-source format system that Wal-Mart piloted in its successful high efficiency stores and adapts it to the unique local climate by adding evaporative cooling and radiant flooring technologies. The new HE.5 system reduces the temperature of water naturally by pumping it through roof-mounted cooling towers then runs the cold water underneath the retail floor to cool the shopping area. Together, the systems provide a comfortable shopping environment while using less energy.[…]

Given the climate-specific nature of the HE.5 store, this prototype will only be built in regions where its innovations will provide the greatest benefit. Wal-Mart’s high efficiency series of HE.1, HE.2 and HE.5 stores build upon many years of research, experiments, partnerships and pilots

Greenbang wonders whatever happened to HE.3 and HE.4? Where do unwanted high efficiency supermarket prototypes go when they die?