Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [68]
They’re off to a good start, with a new prototype store that uses 20 percent less energy and reduced packaging on a line of toys that will require 497 fewer containers to ship, saving $2.4 million in annual shipping costs, 3,800 trees, and 1,000 barrels of oil. In six years, the company will reduce packaging by 5 percent, removing 213,000 trucks from the road, saving 324,000 tons of coal and 67 million gallons of diesel fuel a year, and cutting costs throughout its supply chain by about $3.4 billion. In the United Kingdom, Wal-Mart will reduce food packaging by 25 percent next year and will send no waste to landfills by 2010. All told, Wal-Mart estimates that its packaging reductions will reduce CO2 emissions by 667,000 metric tons by 2013. In addition, Wal-Mart has partnered with GE to develop highly efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lighting for its refrigerator cases, saving $13 million and 63 million pounds of CO2 emissions a year.
To get its customers involved in reducing emissions, the company is trying to sell 100 million compact fluorescent lightbulbs in the United States by the end of this year. They cost three times as much but last five to ten times as long as the more common incandescent bulbs and use so much less energy (about one-fourth as much to produce the same light) that, even with the higher purchase price, a consumer will realize a 25 to 40 percent savings in electric bills each year. If every household in the United States replaces one bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, they’ll help keep 9 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air, the equivalent of taking 800,000 cars off the road. Many consumers resist using the compact fluorescent bulbs because they don’t seem as bright and some have a short delay before turning on, but they’re getting better all the time. If you support the stores that sell them and the companies that make them, you’ll save money on your electric bill and encourage lower prices and more products that use even less electricity. For example, I just bought a 6-watt LED desk light that is as bright as a conventional 60-watt bulb.
The nation’s second-largest retailer, Home Depot, is also making an aggressive effort to persuade its customers to go green, introducing the Eco Options labeling program for nearly three thousand products that promote energy conservation, clean water, and sustainable forestry. The products include fluorescent lightbulbs, silicon windows, and door sealants that improve the efficiency of heating and cooling systems. They even have a calculator on their Web site so you can evaluate the savings you will generate by switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Home Depot plans to have six thousand Eco Options products, representing 12 percent of its sales, by 2009.
Tesco, a large European retailer with operations in Asia, claims to be building “the greenest store in the world,” a supermarket made entirely from recyclable materials. All shopping bags will be biodegradable and shoppers will be able to return excess packaging to Tesco stores for recycling. The company has also established an environmental fund of £100 million (almost $200 million) to power its stores with wind turbines, solar panels, and geothermal power.
Many other big companies are making aggressive efforts to promote energy efficiency and clean energy in ways that not only increase profits but raise consumer awareness. United Technologies Corporation, the twentieth-largest manufacturing corporation in the United States, consumes thirty trillion BTUs of energy a year, and the use of its products account for 2 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Over the last decade, while enjoying robust growth, it has reduced annual energy consumption by 18 percent. Since 2001, it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent per dollar of revenue. Among United Technologies’ most interesting innovations is EcoPower, which cleans its Pratt & Whitney jet engines without using toxic chemicals in a closed-loop process that saves fuel. Hawaiian Airlines estimates that