Wal-Mart will cut truck fuel use by 25% by 2010

When you're huge, even small changes make a big difference. But anyone tried to cut their fuel usage by 25 percent is not a small shift. So when Wal-Mart reaches for that number in the company's truck fuel use, that's a huge deal . The AP says it's the same (in CO2 emissions terms) as taking 67,744 cars off the road.

Wal-Mart's goal is to have the trucks driving cleaner by the end of next year. Some will, and the rest will follow by 2010. Wal-Mart is reducing truck fuel use by getting Great Dane Trailers to develop a more aerodynamic trailer and with investments in hybrid diesel-electric engine development. Since 2005, Wal-Mart has been trying to use green issues to get on critic's good side and save money. Both are happening.

The Sierra Club's global warming program director, Daniel Becker, says that there's still plenty to criticize Wal-Mart for, but in the greener trucking issue, the company should be commended. The trucks in Wal-Mart's fleet that have been greenified are now about 15 percent more efficient (7 mpg vs. 2005's 6 mpg). The AP says that "cutting the average mpg by one gallon saves Wal-Mart between $35 million and $50 million a year."

I agree that there's a seemingly endless amount of ways to criticize Wal-Mart, but this is good.

Related:

• Wal-Mart receives its first Peterbilt hybrid big rig
• Wal-Mart redesigning its trucks for greater efficiencies
• Hydrogen powered electric lift-trucks pass Wal-Mart tests
• Wal-Mart has been out searching for biodiesel provider longer than we knew

[Source: MSNBC]