Grocery Stores Modernize their Lighting with LEDs

If you think about all the lighting in a grocery store, you’ll realize they are huge energy wasters. There is the overall lighting, along with hundreds of lights in freezer cases and display areas, not to mention all the energy the refrigeration systems consume keeping the products chilled. Many grocery stores are updating their lighting and refrigeration systems to reduce energy costs. In Jefferson City, Missouri, Schulte Grocery store was recently presented with a $14,000 award for renovating its refrigeration system. The refrigeration system doesn’t run constantly anymore. If the computer detects a fluctuation in temperature, then the cooling system kicks on. The grocery store also installed LED lighting. Dan Cummins, official at Hussman, the company in charge of the renovation, said LED lighting is the way of the future for grocery stores.

Fresh & Easy just announced that the company wants four more stores to become GreenChill certified, GreenChill works in conjunction with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to reduce refrigerant emissions and help the environment. Fresh & Easy’s first GreenChill store opened in 2010, and now the company has eight GreenChill certified stores, the most of any grocery company in the United States. Some of the changes Fresh & Easy has made to becoming more energy efficient are: installing energy efficient doors in freezer and display cases along with triple-pane glass with anti-fog coating to eliminate door heaters to defog the doors, night curtain on refrigerators, and LED lighting in all chilled cases. Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy CEO, says the GreenChill certified stores consume 30% less energy than many supermarkets.

In 2005, a McKinley, Texas Walmart store installed LED freezer case lighting. The lighting produced less heat, consumed 70% less energy than previous lamps, and saved the store a significant amount of money on electricity and maintenance costs. Now, all Walmart stores have LED lighting in their freezer cases, along with rolling out LED parking lot lighting. Grocery stores, switch to LED lighting for extraordinary savings!

Going Green Can Be Cheap!

Going green doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make million dollar purchases on energy efficient products. There are ways you can improve your business practices starting tomorrow morning!

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Racine’s Better Day BP Gas Station Saves 62% on Energy

In spring 2008, the Better Day BP in Racine, Wisconsin was the first gas station to have an all-LED exterior. Since then, many gas stations have gone the same route, but it’s important to acknowledge the first! Tom Tousis, owner of the gas station, wanted to save money on energy costs, but wanted an attractive station, so he chose to install 56 LED fixtures.

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Car Dealerships Go Green with Cars and Lighting

George Karolis, Vice President of corporate development and real estate at Asbury Automotive Group and owner of a recently retrofitted Lexus dealership, couldn’t have said it better. Automobile dealerships’ number one concern is customer satisfaction. Car salesmen don’t want to be worrying about burned out or broken lamps while tending to customer needs, which makes LED lighting an optimal choice, said Karolis. The lights consume less energy, last longer, and have a better quality of light. Karolis’ Lexus dealership in Roswell, Georgia, replaced its exterior 750-1000 watt fixtures with Qnuru LEDs. The retrofit reduced lighting costs 86.6%, and the lamps have 19% more lumen output.

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Energize Phoenix Project Revamps Inefficient Arizona Neighborhoods

As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, Arizona is making leaps and strides in becoming a more sustainable state, especially in lighting retrofits. Another project in the city of Phoenix that began over the summer will help residents and business owners become more “green.” Energize Phoenix is a $25 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Better Buildings Program and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will transform a 10 mile stretch of the Valley Metro Light Rail into the “Green Rail Corridor” by making energy efficient changes to various buildings and neighborhoods.

According to the Energize Phoenix website, some goals of this project include reducing home energy consumption by 30%, decreasing commercial energy consumption by 18%, decreasing carbon emissions by 50,000 metric tons annually, and retrofitting 2,000 homes and 30 million square feet of business space. Homes, businesses, and factories between Central Avenue and Camelback Road and 44th Street and Washington can submit their street addresses to the Energize Phoenix website to see what incentives they apply for, including energy efficient air conditioners, windows, and water heaters. The project is also expected to create 1,900 to 2,700 “green” jobs! Everyone is benefitting! The website also has some useful energy saving tips for homeowners and businesses that do not qualify for the energy efficient incentives, but would also like to save. For example, if 10% of Arizona installed a solar water heater, it would be the equivalent of removing 57,000 cars off the road, said the website.

If you want more information on how to qualify for Energize Phoenix or how to get involved, please visit www.energizephx.com.

LED Lighting Designed for Developing Countries

The initial costs of solid state lighting has unfortunately turned customers to CFLs or other inexpensive lighting alternatives until prices come down, which they are forecasted to in the upcoming year. We are lucky to have the decision of what kind of lighting we buy, as many developing countries are still burning candles and kerosene through the night. According to an article on Edhat Santa Barbara’s website, not having safe, sufficient lighting is linked to poverty, health problems, and illiteracy. Osef Darwka, president of Ghana Telecom University, wants to change that and provide alternative lighting to third-world countries.

Darwka met with the president of the Institute of Energy Efficiency at the University of California Santa Barbara, John Bowers, knowing that the institute works on highly efficient lighting and solar cells. He asked them to develop a safe, affordable reading light that can be used in developing countries. Bowers, with engineers Dave Schmidt and Norman Gardner, and help from Engineers Without Borders, put together a team to develop an efficient solar powered LED lamp. The lamp is eight times more efficient than incandescent lamps, and can store an hour of LED light for every two hours of daylight it is exposed to, thanks to the solar cells. The lamp costs $7, and comes with a rechargeable AA battery. Claude Dorais, president of Unite to Light, the nonprofit organization in Santa Barbara that supplies these lamps to the countries, said the lamp will cost virtually nothing, except for the rechargeable battery, which be replaced when the person brings it to be recycled.

The first 100 lamps have already been shipped to Ghana back in July, and another 1,200 will be shipped late December to Ghana, Haiti, and Kenya. The goal is to have 10,000 LED lamps shipped in 2011 to these countries and other developing countries. We commend the engineers who developed this inexpensive, yet sustainable lamp for people who may not be able to afford solid state lighting in other countries!

New Sustainability Radio Show Broadcasted in Arizona

A new radio show focusing on sustainability will be launched this week in Arizona! The Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization comprised of business organizations, students, and other individuals who support green practices in the community, will air its “Green Business Radio” show Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on KJLL 1330AM. Andrew Greeley, vice president of the Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce, created this radio show for individuals to call in about green business practices, services, and products, such as how a business may harvest rain water, use solar power, or illuminate its buildings with sustainable lighting. Greeley said each show will feature guest business leaders, government officials, and experts from the University of Arizona to speak about specific topics and answer questions from the audience. Greeley hopes this radio show will boost sustainable business practices

Tune in this Saturday and check out the show! If you miss it, you can download them from the chamber’s website, www.sagcc.org.

Incandescent Ban, LEDs are the Best Alternative

In less than a year, 100-watt incandescent lamps will no longer be produced in or imported to the United States per the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 in order to reduce energy waste. IKEA, a home décor and furniture company, and the state of California have already phased out the incandescent lamps at the start of this year. At the starts of 2013 and 2014, the 70-watt, 60-watt, and 40-watt lamps will also be phased out.

Incandescent bulbs produce a large amount of greenhouse emissions and their short lifespan means a high consumption of raw materials in production, packaging, and transportation. Mary Beth Gotti, member of the National Lighting Bureau’s board of managers and manager of the GE Lighting Institute explained in a press release that lighting is measured in lumens (the amount of light produced) per watt, and the banned 100-watt lamps produce about 17 lumens per watt, which is very inefficient compared to alternative lighting available. Halogen bulbs, which work similar to incandescent bulbs, produce about 37 lumens per watt and have a 72-watt lamp equivalent to the 100-watt incandescent. Compact fluorescent lamps produce about 62.5 lumens per watt and have a 26-watt equivalent to the banned incandescent. Solid state lighting, the most efficient, produces about 75 lumens per watt and has a 10-watt equivalent to the banned incandescent! They even last 60-70 times longer!

As the incandescent phase out continues, please choose LEDs for your lighting needs!

LED Lighting Used to Transmit Wi-Fi Data

Light Visually X-Transcending System, a startup company also known as LVX System, has built the first few lighting systems that will transmit information through flickering LED lights. You may say, well, flickering lighting in office buildings is annoying and causes eye strain, headaches, and is plain annoying. LED lights can flicker thousands of times per second, which is undetectable to the human eye. The LVX system’s cluster of flickering LED lights will communicate with computer modems and other technologies to transmit information over the internet, so computers will not have to be connected to the internet. Short range transmissions are getting crowded, said Mohsen Kavehrad, an electrical engineer that has been working with optical network technology for years. This may help speed up the system, especially with the lights transmitting at 3 megabytes per second, similar to a residential DSL line. The LVX system will be installed in six municipal buildings in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The city paid $10,000 for the system and is mostly excited for the electricity and maintenance savings. The new LED lights consume 36 watts of power, while the standard fluorescent lamps consume 100 watts.

Kimm Anderson, Associated Press – Ap

The next generation of the LVX system may have “smarter” lighting. The lights will be able to detect if bright sunlight is coming into the room or it is empty and automatically dim the lights. The LEDs are also able to change color, so they can use a different color to lead employees and customers to an emergency exit. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is also looking into using the LVX system, and installing cameras onto the LEDs to boost security system while also saving on electricity and maintenance! What will developers come up with next?

LED Lighting Paired with Solar and Wind Power Equals More Savings

Yet another exciting development in the solid state lighting world has been made, but this time, combined with wind turbine power. Urban Green Energy, a leader in small wind energy and leading manufacturer of vertical axis wind turbines, announced a new street light product combined with LED lighting and solar and wind power. Sanya, the new street light, comes with a 77-watt LED lamp and a 150-watt solar panel that can store five days of energy to ensure there will always be light when needed. The street lights were also designed to have the wiring and batteries be at ground level for easy access. The easy installation and minimal maintenance make Sanya a sustainable alternative for street lighting.

The new street lights are designed to power themselves with 100% clean energy from the sun and wind. According to the press release from Urban Green Energy, there are already major installations of Sanya street lights in North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. The City of San Francisco, California, has already begun installing Sanya street lights in front of the city’s civic center. Mayor Gavin Newsom is working toward making the civic center and city more sustainable, and installing these street lights is a big step! The street lights will use the wind from the Bay and the power from the sun to save the city thousands of dollars in energy costs.

We hope to see the Sanya street lights come to Arizona and other parts of the United States and the world!