Wal-Mart Encourages Energy Savings With Light Bulbs

BENTONVILLE, Ark., – In an effort to save energy this year, people across the country will “spring forward” with daylight savings three weeks earlier than ever before. Wal-Mart, a leader in providing customers with better product choices for a more sustainable lifestyle, encourages shoppers to switch out conventional light bulbs and replace them with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) to further enhance the daylight savings time energy saving efforts.

“Many people use daylight savings as a reminder to check safety monitors and hardware in their homes, and it can also be a great time to take an extra step towards energy savings by replacing conventional light bulbs with CFLs. This is a small change that will add up to big results,” said Andy Ruben, Wal-Mart vice president for corporate strategy and sustainability. “The more people that get involved and decide to make the switch, the better off we all will be.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if every American swapped just one conventional bulb for a CFL, it would collectively save them more than $8 billion in energy costs, prevent burning 30 billion pounds of coal, and keep two million cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.

“CFL bulbs save our shoppers both energy and money,” said Ruben. “Each bulb has the power to save our customers as much as $30 in home electricity costs, easily making back the cost of the bulb in just a few months.”

On top of its pledge to sell 100 million CFL bulbs by 2008 to help reduce the amount of energy used throughout the country, Wal-Mart is a member of the 18 Seconds Movement (www.18seconds.org), a group that strives to build awareness of the energy efficiencies of CFL bulbs. Additionally, the retailer is making other strides to conserve energy, including reducing packaging by five percent by 2013 – an effort that will be equal to removing 213,000 trucks from the road and saving approximately 324,000 tons of coal and 67 million gallons of diesel fuel per year.

Besides replacing conventional bulbs with CFL bulbs, there are several other ways that shoppers can conserve energy at daylight savings time and beyond, including: leaving seldom-used appliances unplugged, enabling the “sleep mode” feature when computers are not in use; only washing full loads in the dishwasher, and utilizing low-flow shower heads, programmable light timers and thermostat timers.

Daylight savings time is also a great time to conduct other maintenance work around the house. Make sure to change clocks an hour ahead before going to sleep on Saturday night, as the time officially changes at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. Also, check batteries in smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and other safety-friendly devices around the home to keep your family safe.

About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT)
Every week, more than 127 million customers visit Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam’s Club locations across America or log on to its online store at www.walmart.com. The company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of giving back locally. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $245 million to local communities in the United States. To learn more, visit www.walmartfacts.com, www.walmartstores.com, or www.walmartfoundation.org.

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