Home Depot Implements Energy Conservation Measures
In response to the government’s call to conserve energy, in light of the recent hurricane, The Home Depot announced last week that it will implement energy-saving measures in all of its U.S. stores. In addition, the company is increasing its efforts to educate consumers about products and services that can help save money and conserve natural resources during this critical period.
The Home Depot will voluntarily implement conservation measures in all of its stores until further notice. Measures include reducing the use of ceiling lights in stores equipped with skylights and cutting back illumination of lighting displays by five hours per day, per store. The company estimates these actions alone will save approximately 15 million kilowatt hours per month, enough to power 17,400 homes per month. In addition, the company will challenge its associates to be especially vigilant about energy consumption throughout store operations.
The company also will implement energy-saving measures in its U.S. store support facilities and has a similar program in place in its 123 Canadian stores.
“As we help empower consumers to reduce their energy costs through products and services, we also believe it is right for us to reduce our company’s own consumption and help contribute to the country’s energy conservation efforts at this time,”” said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president and CEO of The Home Depot.
In 2004, the company implemented a number of energy conservation initiatives to reduce electricity demands in the stores, including retrofitting stores with T5 fluorescent lighting, converting front signs to LED and implementing a low-watt bulb program in each store’s light display. In addition, the company has achieved an average energy savings of 34 percent in new stores built since 2003 by engineering a number of changes in their design and construction process.
In addition to these internal measures, the company announced plans to conduct clinics at 2 p.m. every Sunday in September on how to save money on energy bills. It also has created an online home energy-efficiency audit at http://www.homedepot.com/energy to identify which parts of a consumer’s home use the most energy. Consumers can use the checklist provided to track problem areas and help prioritize necessary energy-efficiency upgrades.
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