OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced a unique public-private partnerships with 19 states and Puerto Rico to help them save on energy and electricity costs at their state capitol buildings.  Through its Greening State Capitols partnership with the National Governors Association, Wal-Mart will offer its energy auditing services in an outreach and marketing effort over the next two years.

The retail giant intends to send energy conservation experts into the state capitols to perform energy audits.  The audit will provide valuable insight into ways that energy-efficiency strategies and technologies can be infused into the government buildings.

"State and local governments spend more than $11 billion on energy costs each year, and energy bills can account for up to 10 percent of a government’s annual operating budget," said Chris Cashman, a spokesperson from the National Governors Association.   "However, this energy use could be cut significantly through efficiency enhancements, improved maintenance and operation and increased conservation." 

Wal-Mart has successfully improved the energy performance of thousands of its buildings around the world and is embarking on a new line of revenue via consulting.  The audit will be conducted by a team over a two-day period and will include a review of the building's:  

• Lighting;
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems;  
• Refrigeration and other equipment;  
• Technologies such as programmable thermostats; and 
• Building structure, including insulation and windows.

The states (and territories) to be audited include Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico.

Following the audit, the energy experts will devise a report detailing recommended energy efficiency improvement strategies as well as estimated costs to the state of implementing them.   Potential energy savings and carbon dioxide emissions reductions will also be provided in the report.  

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart will only recommend technologies with a return on investment within five years, unless a state specifically asks for a different time frame.  The time-frame is short-sighted, as its only tackles the "low hanging fruit" - technologies that are inexpensive (relatively) and easy to change out for newer ones. 

At the request of the state, Wal-Mart will use its purchasing power to attract and supervise engineering firms to install the new technologies.  If the government can get these technologies at Wal-Mart prices, its a major win for the taxpayer and a demonstration of how public-private partnerships can leverage resources extremely successfully.