US Retail Chains Looking Solar

The move to a greener economy and standard of living was always going to have to be led by business. No matter what way you look at it, governments don’t like making big sweeping changes, but businesses will, especially if it helps with their public image or bottom line.

Big retail chains across America are utilizing their giant flat rooftops for solar panels. Chains like Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have all installed solar panels on the roofs of their stores.

But with Congress not planning (at least at the moment) to renew the production tax credit (PTC), this solar drive could very well dry up very quickly.

At the moment, many retail chains are hurrying to beat the deadline, installing as many solar panels as is feasible. But so far, the majority of chains are lucky to have managed to get 10% of their stores outfitted with solar panels.

”It’s very clear that green energy is now front and center in the minds of the business sector,” said Daniel Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley. ”Not only will you see panels on the roofs of your local stores, but I suspect very soon retailers will have stickers in their windows saying, ‘This is a green energy store.”’

I think the majority of us would be more than happy to walk in to a store with such a sticker. Cheap advertising aside, for who really cares why they go green, just as long as they do, will these same retail chains that are making a dash for solar independence continue this trend after the government give up on them?