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!
