Minnesota Capitol to get free energy audit from Wal-Mart

Updated: May 6, 2008 - 8:42 PM

Minnesota's State Capitol among those selected by Wal-Mart for energy audits.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced partnerships with Minnesota, 18 other states and Puerto Rico to help cut energy and electricity costs at their capitols.

The company will pay engineering experts to perform energy audits at the capitols and recommend ways to save energy, lower electricity costs and reduce greenhouse emissions, company officials told state leaders Tuesday at the National Governors Association's State Summit on Clean Power and Efficiency in Overland Park, Kan.

The other states included are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Engineers will visit the capitols in 2008 and 2009 to examine lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning systems, refrigeration equipment and building structures. Wal-Mart will then provide recommendations based on technology it uses to reduce energy consumption at its stores, said Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, both Republicans, attended the announcement.

Pawlenty said the public-private partnership was an example of how governors can lead an effort to become greener. "The cleanest and cheapest energy is the energy we save," he said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS