In an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and costs, many businesses are attempting to use renewable energy sources. Kohl’s Department Stores is one of these businesses using renewable energy as a part of their overall energy plan. Overall, Kohl’s is considered the largest retailer to use solar energy in all of North America.
Kohl’s recently announced the intention to add solar power to 10 of their Colorado locations. In total, 10 of their 23 Kohl’s locations in Colorado are expected to have at least 530 panels each. These panels will be able to generate 112 kilowatts and a predicted 1.6 million kilowatts each year when considering all Colorado locations together. Each 530 panel set-up is expected to be able to generate 15 percent of one store’s energy requirements.
Colorado is not the first state for Kohl’s to use solar energy. Other states Kohl’s is providing solar power for their stores are: Wisconsin, Oregon, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and California. A California location, the Laguna Niguel store, was the first location to have solar power starting in 2007.
While Kohl’s is making significant strides to convert stores to solar energy, currently only 86 of their 1,067 stores have solar energy. However, the Kohl’s company has stated that this number will increase to 100 in upcoming months. In addition, 450 of their stores are designated as Energy Star stores, according to the U.S. Energy Star program.
The company has also done additional work towards a greener company, such as purchasing green power aside from that it uses. As of January of this year, the company had purchased 100 percent of the company’s energy needs in renewable energy. Such moves have caused the Environmental Protection Agency to name them the 2009 Green Power Partner of the Year.
