Walmart Shows Off Its Sunny Side

After years of being one of corporate America's bad boys, Walmart has been on their best behavior lately.

Last year, the retail giant donated $72 million to environmental causes. Then there was their Michelle Obama-endorsed pledge to sell more fresh produce at affordable prices. And to top it off, last week they donated a million dollars to Milwaukee-based Growing Power, a well-known urban farming nonprofit headed by "genius" grant winner Will Allen.

Now, Walmart wants you to know that they care about renewable energy as well. Yesterday, the company announced that it plans to install solar panels in 60 additional stores in California, bringing the clean energy to an unprecedented 75 percent of their stores in the state.

“California presents a great opportunity for Walmart to make significant progress toward our sustainability goals by installing solar power on more than 130 store rooftops throughout the state,” said Kim Saylors-Laster, Walmart vice president of energy.

“Walmart has reduced energy expenses by more than a million dollars through our solar program, allowing us to pass these savings on to our customers in the form of everyday low prices.”

That's right, consumers, they're doing it for you. But jadedness aside, utilizing solar energy in California is a pretty smart idea. Not only will it provide for up to 30 percent of their total electric needs, the company will be doing the equivalent of taking 4,100 cars off the road by utilizing a clean energy source—pretty useful in the smog-filled state.

But as green as Walmart tries to be, they're not off the hook. The billion-dollar behemoth still weaseled their way out of a massive sexual discrimination case earlier this year, and hasn't changed their policy of suggesting their own employees take advantage of government programs like welfare and food stamps to feed themselves.

Here's an idea: Instead of passing along your solar saving to consumers, why not pass them on to some of your workforce? Now there would be a Walmart announcement worth waiting for.