Solar Panels (© Maxfx | Dreamstime.com)

Whole Foods Market recently contracted to add solar energy to more than 20 locations; including existing installations, solar will be brought to the rooftops of more than 30 of the Company's stores nationwide.

With an installation at its Berkeley, California store in 2002, the Company became the first retailer to introduce solar power as its primary lighting source. Including potential future rollout phases, Whole Foods Market hopes to have close to 70 total locations with rooftop solar panels, close to one-fourth of the Company's total number of stores.

"Whole Foods Market is thrilled to set the environmental bar even higher by pioneering the development and deployment of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power," said Lee Matecko, Whole Foods Market Global Vice President of Construction and Store Development. "We are also reducing energy consumption in new and existing stores with some exciting innovative technologies that are making a real difference."

If you’d like to read the press release on which this item was based go to: Whole Foods Market Announces Alternative Energy Investment