It's easy to hate Walmart. They've been accused of many things: horrible factory conditions, child labor, spying on their employees, and pricing Barbie dolls by race, just to name a few. They replaced American made goods with Chinese made goods, put millions of local family-stores out of business, and then slept with our sister and never called her again. What the hell, Walmart?
Essentially, they’ve succeeded by sticking to one central motto: make it cheaper than the other guy. Their goods don’t last more than a month, but people buy them anyway, because they’re so cheap. This motto seems to have extended to their recent decision to equip 20-30 of their California and Arizona locations with solar panel arrays. The solar cell Walmart has chosen is copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), which converts about 25% of sunlight into usable energy for the store. A thinner solar film, CIGS make up only about 20% of the current solar market. Crystalline silicon solar cells are reported to be about 42% efficient, but cost more to install and maintain.
Walmart has yet again chosen to go the cheaper route, and will be footing the bill to the power company for the remaining 75% of their energy needs. Now, I’m not damning CIGS technology outright. For companies and individual interests that want to go solar, but can’t afford the high-end crystalline arrays, CIGS makes an excellent alternative. But, over time, high efficiency solar panels will save you more money than CIGS, especially as energy rates continue to increase. If you can afford the higher price panels now, you’ll end up paying less in the long run. And Walmart can certainly afford the initial investment. Therefore, it seems as if Walmart has unwittingly shot themselves in the foot here. Their first law of cheapness has betrayed them, like a plastic slinky that breaks in the store before someone can buy it. Sure, they made the little useless piece of junk for less than a cent, but now they don’t even get that back. Their business model has actually assured that they will lose money over time. Awesome right!
Ultimately, solar technology is nowhere near where it will be in five years. It has incredible room to grow, and is just begging to find investors. As hard as it is to admit, many companies are right to wait to convert to solar, as their options will get exponentially better in short order. But, Walmart’s recent solar move is still good news. Yes, their public relations department was probably the motivating factor, but the investment will still help the industry. More importantly, showing that these less efficient technologies (which are still about 10% more efficient than many consumer solar panel brands) are viable on a large scale, will set a helpful precedent to other corporations considering the switch to solar. So, in the end, while I still hate Walmart, and consider them a mega evil devil company, I am cautiously optimistic about this recent news. Green technology cannot simply end corporate personhood or give massive conglomerates any real incentive to act responsibly. They have to do it the old-fashioned way, by beating their competition, and surviving the slings and arrows of shortsighted companies like Walmart.
Source: www.brighterenergy.org/16580/news/solar/walmart-to-deploy-20-30-thin-film-solar-arrays/
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