The "Cleantech Accelerator Project," will connect Wal-Mart with the cleantech industry and accelerate the deployment of new technologies that reduce ecological impacts while increasing performance and lowering costs.

Wal-Mart and the Cleantech Group established their partnership to identify the initial areas of opportunity for submissions in October, 2007. Through the Cleantech Accelerator Project, Wal-Mart is looking innovative ideas in the following areas:

-- alternative battery technology for forklifts;

-- wind harvesting;

-- closed-loop water processing;

-- sustainable building materials;

-- organic waste;

-- oil-based waste; and

-- household hazardous waste

The Cleantech Group will review submissions to determine which might qualify for testing. For each target area, Cleantech will provide Wal-Mart with two to four solutions that can be integrated into its business within the next 24 months.

The Accelerator Project adds to Wal-Mart's current efforts including the development of High Efficiency stores that are 25 percent more efficient than its typical Supercenters in 2005.

The company is equipping all new stores with LED lights and retrofitting more than 500 existing stores with the energy-saving technology. Wal-Mart is also installing solar panels on 22 stores in California and Hawaii that can provide up to 30 percent of the power for those stores.