Walmart has led innovative sustainability efforts in the development of their retail superstores. The article references the development of the retail superstore as a living laboratory in which the retail behemoth is testing a number of leading-edge sustainability efforts, the most notable of which is an integrated HVAC and refrigeration system that uses waste heat from refrigerated grocery cases to heat the facility.
The system uses a closed water loop to capture rejected heat from the refrigeration equipment in the store’s grocery cases and walk-in freezers and coolers. The process captures heat that is removed from products that are coming in to be cooled, then transfers that heat to be used in other parts of the store as space heating.