“A lot of companies are suppliers to Walmart, and they have implemented a supplier sustainability report card, requiring top suppliers down the value chain to complete this on an annual basis,” he explained. “We’ve done a couple systems for big suppliers of Walmart. Beyond the operating cost reductions savings and long term hedge, to them the real value was that now they have the ability to go back to Walmart and strengthen that relationship they have because they look like a good corporate citizen in the eyes of Walmart. That’s being pushed down the value chain.”
And you can bet that if suppliers to Walmart are getting more serious about adopting alternative energy sources to make them more powerful competitors, then we’ll see more suppliers to these suppliers adding energy commerce to their expanding resumes, right along with electronic commerce.