The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the first of Walmart’s new “high efficiency” stores is slated to open Jan 23, in Romeoville, IL. It’s part of Walmart’s super awesome PR-tastic, yet characteristically stingy plan to make its stores 25 to 30 percent more energy efficient by 2009.

To that end, the store features “decorative floor boards and moldings are made from the material leftover from making the leg holes in disposable diapers.”

Yes, really. We weren’t aware that producing “leg holes” resulted in a lot of waste, but we sure are happy to hear that it’s being put to good use. Here are some other features of a “green” Walmart:

• The exposed concrete floor made of waste left over from coal operations
• A new system for keeping refrigerated food cold that lowers the use of refrigerant by 90 percent and in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions
• Motion-sensitive light-emitting diodes (LED) in refrigerator and freezer cases
• Doors in the meat and dairy refrigerated sections instead of open refrigerator shelves
• 200 skylights that allow electric lights to go down when the sun comes out

Wal-Mart aims for a green look in Romeoville [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:handh07)

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