With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in full swing and hydrogen fuel cell buses and Chevy Equinox FCVs carrying people to and fro plus the British Columbia Hydrogen Highway system in full use, there has been another development for Western Canada.
In October 2007, I had talked about how the world’s largest retailer, Walmart was demoing some hydrogen fuel cell forklifts and palette trucks at their Ohio facilities. Now, in Balzac, Alberta, just outside Calgary, Walmart has decided to spend $115 million to build a green and sustainable refrigerated distribution center.
By using wind, solar and hydrogen power the facility will be 60-percent more energy efficient than other comparable facilities. Hydrogen fuel cells will replace lead-acid batteries on forklifts and palette trucks, which mean longer operational times, quick refueling and no hassle in recharging or swapping out batteries.
The new green facility will provide 800 new construction jobs for the area and 600 additional jobs for employees once the facility has been built. Walmart was so impressed with the hydrogen forklift demo back in 2007, they are now integrating them into their green sustainability plans going forward. Leave it to Walmart to know a good value when they see it.
Way to go Walmart! Always a leader in the green business amongst big box stores. I definitely see renewable energy as the future of energy source.
I am a student at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada enrolled in the Environment and Business Program. I’m currently participating in a
green automotive engineering competition
called EcoCAR. We are re-engineering a GM donated vehicle into a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicle! If you are intersted in this sort of thing,
check our our car design at http://www.uwaft.com
or the competition website at
http://www.ecocarchallenge.org.