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This story from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette exposes how difficult it can be to separate fact from fiction with Wal-Mart’s green campaign. The retailer invited dozens of environmentally-friendly companies down to Bentonville, but doesn’t actually buy supplies from any of them. It was merely a chance for Wal-Mart buyers to see what an eco product looks like. Rand Waddoups’ quote further down in the story doesn’t really address Wal-Mart’s environmental problems, but it sure does sound good in a newspaper story!

Wal-Mart welcomes makers of products easy on environment [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]

Inside the Lights of America company’s booth on the top floor of the Bentonville Plaza office building Tuesday, dozens of LED — lightemitting diode — lights for various applications glowed from a mere 350 watts of power.

The Walnut, Calif.-based company displayed vanity globes, accent lighting, track lights and other applications, with 1. 5-watt bulbs providing light equivalent to a 40-watt incandescent bulb.

Despite the obvious energy savings, Brian Halliwell, vice president of sales and marketing for Lights of America, doesn’t see LED bulbs replacing general-purpose light bulbs anytime soon. For now, he said, the miserly lights are likely to remain in the realm of accent lighting in the home.

Lights of America was among 80 vendor companies that set up booths as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hosted its first “closed-loop networking showcase” near the company’s headquarters. The event brought together buyers for Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club warehouse outlets with companies featuring environmentally friendly products for sale at retail or for use in store construction.

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