GREEN BEGATS GREEN…
Basic Rule: you get rich not by making more money, but rather by spending less of the money you do make. And the rule applies whether you’re making $50,000 or $50,000,000 a year; whether you’re Jeff Hess or Rob Walton.
Having said that, I’ll give Wal Mart its due for all its environmental initiatives. But remember that in each and every case, its actions are profit driven, they’ve improved Wal Mart’s bottom line and put more money in its shareholders’ bank accounts. That’s a good thing. And I hope other companies follow suit. But we shouldn’t get all warm and fuzzy when we read:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the biggest private user of electricity in the world and has huge potential to cut back on greenhouse gases in-house and among its 60,000 suppliers, company officials said ahead of a global warming information stop Wednesday by former vice president Al Gore.
Wal-Mart working groups on environmental change were meeting ahead of Gore’s visit to discuss steps already taken and new efforts ahead under a green initiative launched last October by Chief Executive Lee Scott to make the often-criticized company a better environmental citizen.
Since before Earth Day in 1970 environmentalists have talked about how conservation is good for business and there have been notable examples of major corporations saving millions by not wasting energy and other recourses. And, remember the basic rule, you get richer by not spending the money you have. And if you’re the world larger (insert noun here) you can save bundles.
New store prototypes in the works will use design and technology to be 30 percent more efficient than today’s stores and in the longer term even 50 percent more efficient.
“We are the number one private purchaser of electricity in the United States and therefore in the world,” Zimmerman said.
In logistics, covering Wal-Mart’s fleet of 7,000 trucks, Tim Yatsko said the company had already cut fuel use by 8 percent by putting alternative power units in rigs this year so they can stop idling engines during loading or breaks. That saved $25 million in fuel bills and cut 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
The question of course is: who benefits the most from the $25 million?
[...] GREEN BEGATS GREEN… Basic Rule: you get rich not by making more money, but rather by spending less of the money you do make. And the rule applies whether you’re making $50,000 or $50,000,000 a year; whether you’re Jeff Hess or Rob Walton. Keep reading… [...]
[...] Wal Mart allowed journalists to cover Al Gore’s global warming presentation and one of those reporting was Amanda Griscom Little from Grist Magazine. Little called Lee And Al Show a strange scene, but she saw the sense in it. [...]