Wal-Mart's new green image

A lot of news stories have been touting Wal-Mart's flirtation with solar power, with a potential rollout to over 300 stores in the United States. It's a great way for the corporate giant to try and clean some of the tarnish of its image as a skinflint on wages and healthcare. So is this a big change?

While there's no doubt that a energy-sucking big box store will lessen its energy footprint by installing rooftop solar panels, there's a reason local retail activist and expert Stacy Mitchell has said that the best thing Wal-Mart can do for the environment is to stop building stores.