Purina Pet Food, with the help of Governor Bill Ritter and a dog named Dealer, recently cut the ribbon at a 467-panel pilot photovoltaic (PV) array on its Denver, Colorado facility. On the other hand, Wal-Mart took a shot from a California Superior Court judge who denied the corporate giant’s bid to open a superstore in the desert town of Yucca Valley.

Purina’s solar system, installed by REC Solar, is now the largest privately owned PV array in Colorado. While it will only cut the 21,000 square foot plant’s electrical use by one percent, the savings will be considerable when compared to its overall energy output. Purina also donated some 30 tons of dog and cat food to the Metro Denver Shelter Alliance. The company has also installed a compressed air and steam system as well as lighting and boiler upgrades in its ongoing attempt to emerge as a green pet food company. Purina, owned by Nestle, is now considering a similar system on their plant in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Now we turn to Wal-Mart. The world’s largest corporation has for several years now touted its new eco-friendly focus, vowing to go 100% renewable energy beginning with pilot projects on several of its stores. Yet when push came to shove, Wal-Mart did everything in its power to avoid seemingly obvious sustainable upgrades. The proposed Yucca Valley superstore would be in California’s high desert not far from the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park — a location with very high solar potential.

A San Bernadino Superior Court judge ruled that Wal-Mart and the city of Yucca Valley have not done enough to evaluate and implement measures to reduce the store’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. In their defense Wal-Mart officials claimed that the estimated 7,000 metric tons of annual emissions resulting from operating the store was too insignificant to require adhering to sustainable building measures under the California Environmental Quality Act. The judge disagreed.

With contrary economic and environmental data from state officials, judge Barry Plotkin ruled that Wal-mart’s evaluation was inadequate and ordered Yucca Valley officials to reexamine the feasibility of a more environmentally friendly Wal-Mart store. The ruling is significant in that it resonates with a larger movement within the state of California to require aggressive steps toward sustainable building practices as the state attempts to reach its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2020.

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Posted on June 3rd in Solar Politics by Dan.