Ever closer to the crossover point
May 25th, 2008 by AndyWith assistance from the Ontario government, Wal-Mart and Menova Energy have signed a $5.9 million deal to install modified solar panels on the roof of one store to provide electricity, solar water heating, and light (through fibre optic cables). Better yet, Menova has partnered with Woodbine Tool & Die to manufacture these solar panels. I say better yet because Woodbine historically has produced automotive parts, and has been crippled lately as the auto industry has fallen into the shitter. As president Tibor says,
“To support that level of demand [hypothetically outfitting 25% of Wal-Mart stores over 4 years, pending the results of this test installation] Woodbine Tool & Die’s operations in Ontario would grow by 85 employees and spin off another 240 indirect support jobs in primary metals and installations.”
Take that, all you pessimistic ‘tards who say going green harms the economy somehow. As the decline of North American manufacturing shows (to me anyway), business as usual is what doesn’t work. And if we don’t get on creating “green” jobs, those damn socialist Scandinavians will steal all the potential. I just think it’s funny that big bad Wal-Mart is involved with this… just goes to show that the crossover point of economic viability has already been reached in some areas…
May 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Wow. That’s a pretty big deal.
It would be pretty ironic if Wal-mart became a rallying point for green building. Oh well. I’ll take what I can get.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Alright I thought I’d chime in on this since I’ve done some research on Wal-Mart. Combined, they are something like a top-ten economy in the world, if I recall correctly.
So a green push by Wal-Mart is a pretty big deal. By 2011, they pledged to only sell MSC certified (a sustainability certification for individual fisheries, not easy to acquire) seafood, they will soon become the world’s largest buyer of organic cotton, and as this blog attests to, are committed to long term goals of buying all energy from renewable sources and be zero waste.
Also, if you want to learn another angle on green jobs. Check out Apollo Alliance, a group dedicated to making sure that any climate change legislation that creates “green jobs,” gives a a proportion to the disproportionately impacted people of poor socioeconomic origin.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
[...] While the dollar figures the funding represents (a few million, annually) are utterly trivial to Exxon, it may be emblematic of something more significant that they are reducing (rather than intensifying) their smear campaigns, given the current political climate. The big cogs are beginning to turn, however grudgingly. I’m still not expecting any positive actions to come from the oil barons of the world, but less negativity is something, anyway. [...]