NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., will open the first of what it is calling its second-generation of High-Efficiency stores (HE.2) in Romeoville, Ill., on Jan. 23, according to Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs and governmental relations. Speaking at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention & Expo here yesterday, Dach said that the new store will be 25% more energy-efficient than the typical Wal-Mart supercenter. The new store will “incorporate the learnings” of Wal-Mart’s two experimental stores and three high-efficiency stores, which are 20% more energy-efficient than its supercenters, Dach said. The Romeoville store will include white roofs, LED lighting, low-flow bathroom faucets and a secondary-loop refrigeration system that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by lowering refrigerant use by 90%. “All of the technologies will pay back in a very short time period, many in the first or second year,” Dach said.

Read More of Today's Headlines