(Click to enlarge)

In 2007, Former President Bill Clinton announced a new partnership between the Clinton Climate Initiative(CCI) and WalMart Stores Inc., in order to help bring environmentally friendly technologies to cities across the United States and around the world.

As part of the partnership, the two organizations collaborate regarding the design and discovery of new products and best practices related to environmentally-friendly technologies. The two groups explore ways to lower prices on sustainable technologies, such as energy efficient building materials and systems, energy efficient lighting and clean energy products.

Walmart worked with the CCI to create high-performance LED light fixtures designed for parking lots and street lamps. By switching to LEDs, Walmart estimated that cities could save 50 percent on street lamp energy consumption and reduce maintenance costs by 80 percent. Additional technologies to be explored may include interior LED lighting, variable-speed heating ventilation and air conditioning technology (HVAC) and solar power purchases.

In Houston, CCI’s innovative partnership with Walmart, reduced the amount of organic waste being thrown away in landfills – cutting the amount of methane gas released into the atmosphere and producing an organic product that creates healthy soils in the process. Having been impressed by the program, Walmart executives included composting in the organic waste reduction program that has been rolled out to all of their stores across Texas.