This is excellent news. Large retailers should continue to set a great example for everyone. There is so much free space among the rooftops across America that we have the ability to free ourselves from the grips of fossil fuel. If you combine solar farms in key locations with decentralized solar panels for individual neighbourhoods then we can make a dent. Even though making solar panels is not 100% environmentally friendly, it seems overall it is the best way to go (along with wind and wave, geothermal) as once it is manufactured it becomes environmentally advantageous). It is the answer to the worlds energy. Think of how well it would serve energy needs in Africa?

Large retailers should set good examples. They should start by putting in skylights. With the way most stores are set up, most of the energy produced by adding solar panels to the roofs is going to go toward lighting the store during the day.

They should also invest in some fiber optic lighting systems if they have multiple floors.

Now that would be eco-endeavor.

Excellent! A green building is only as good as it's indoor air. REI's Portland Oregon store has indoor air the smells like rubber from bike tires. Challenge: find a way to make non-toxic tires locally instead of shipping them from Japan.

Not only they are setting an example; this is intelligent advertising also.

Greenwash alert: only 80 tonnes saved. Compare to their own sustainability report showing 30,000 tonnes from flying just 0.1% of members on "eco-adventures" each year. This flying is the single largest source of emissions for REI at about 30%. Worse, those flying emissions are increasing thousands of tonnes each year. I like REI, but this solar panel thing is trivial compared to the exploding climate damaging emissions from their hyper-luxury vacation biz. Let's call it what it is: classic greenwashing.

Yeah because nobody ever went on vacations travelling abroad before REI.

I understand your frustrations about cabron emissions, but your rant seems misplaced. Maybe you should consider how many major retailers or companies release a sustainability report? Not everything you disaprove of falls under the category of "greenwashing".

Hey, if REI wants to sell hyper-carbon-emitting vacations that's fine. No law against it. If they want to increase their carbon emissions by over 25% per year mostly because they want increased profits from a few folks flying, that's legal too. Lots of companies do that.

But they also want to have "stewardship" in their mission statement and state that: "Through responsible business practices, we strive to reduce our environmental footprint."

REI is choosing a business practice that is deliberately increasing carbon emissions by thousands of tonnes per year. 99.9% of co-op members don't even participate in the REI Adventures fly-to-travel offerings so it is hardly central to their core biz. The solar panel thing is trivial and meaningless in comparison. It's like throwing an ever increasing amount of your household trash out the window of your car but deciding to put your gum in the ashtray...and saying you have a responsible plan to reduce your littering.

Maybe they should open their own coal-fired power plant next, because after all people have been burning coal long before REI thought to cash in on it.

Better yet, how about we hold REI to their word and expect them to actually cut their carbon emissions, at least a little bit? If they won't, who will?

Great advertising, but in my experience in IL and in TX all REI stores are in locations near mega malls that you cannot bike or walk to.

REI used to have stores that provided goods and services that the local community desired. With experts to match. You know, like a co-op.
Now they all look the same inside and offer the same cookie cutter products with cookie cutter staff.

I smell a greenwashed crunchy big box.