\n \n As the US attempts to wean itself off its heavy reliance on fossil fuels<\/a> and shift to cleaner energy sources<\/a>, many experts are eyeing a promising solution: your neighborhood big-box stores and shopping malls.\n <\/p>\n \n The rooftops and parking lot space available at retail giants like Walmart, Target and Costco is massive. And these largely empty spaces are being touted as untapped potential for solar power <\/a>that could help the US reduce its dependency on foreign energy, slash planet-warming emissions and save companies millions of dollars in the process.\n <\/p>\n \n At the IKEA store in Baltimore, installing solar panels on the roof and over the store\u2019s parking lot cut the amount of energy it needed to purchase by 84%, slashing its costs by 57% from September to December of 2020, according to the company<\/a>. (The panels also provide some beneficial shade to keep customers\u2019 cars cool on hot, sunny days.)\n <\/p>\n \n As of February 2021, IKEA had 54 solar arrays installed across 90% of its US locations.\n <\/p>\n \n Big-box stores and shopping centers have enough roof space to produce half of their annual electricity needs from solar, according to a report<\/a> from nonprofit Environment America and research firm Frontier Group.\n <\/p>\n \n Leveraging the full rooftop solar potential of these superstores would generate enough electricity to power nearly 8 million average homes, the report concluded, and would cut the same amount of planet-warming emissions as pulling 11.3 million gas-powered cars off the road.\n <\/p>\n \n The average Walmart store, for example, has 180,000 square feet of rooftop, according to the report. That\u2019s roughly the size of three football fields and enough space to support solar energy that could power the equivalent of 200 homes, the report said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEvery rooftop in America that isn\u2019t producing solar energy is a rooftop wasted as we work to break our dependence on fossil fuels and the geopolitical conflicts that come with them,\u201d Johanna Neumann, senior director for Environment America\u2019s campaign for 100% Renewable<\/a>, told CNN. \u201cNow is the time to lean into local renewable energy production, and there\u2019s no better place than the roofs of America\u2019s big-box superstores.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Advocates involved in clean energy worker-training programs tell CNN that a solar revolution in big-box retail would also be a significant windfall for local communities, spurring economic growth while tackling the climate crisis, which has inflicted disproportionate harm<\/a> on marginalized communities<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Yet only a fraction of big-box stores in the US have solar on their rooftops or solar canopies in parking lots, the report\u2019s authors told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
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