Wal-Mart Making Switch to LED Ceiling Lights

Wal-Mart Stores is stepping up its use of solid-state lighting in a big way.



The discounter is installing LED ceiling lighting fixtures in new U.S. supercenters, Asda locations in the United Kingdom, and new and remodeled stores in Asia and Latin America — with 157 stores adopting the solution in 2014.



The new fixtures will use 40% less energy than lighting sources historically used in stores, which should help Wal-Mart meet its goal of reducing the kilowatt hour per square foot of energy required to power its buildings globally 20% by 2020.



The initiative includes a variety of technologies from GE Lighting, with its new Lumination IS Series LED Luminaire prominently used in the ceiling application. With main sales floor lighting accounting for about 90% of total lighting usage in each building, the move to LEDs will reduce Wal-Mart’s energy use per store by more than 5% in the U.S. alone. It will save an impressive 340,000 kilowatt hours annually per location — equating to more than $34,000 in savings per year in each store. The savings will vary by region across the globe, but all areas will benefit from reduced maintenance costs. (The suspended Lumination luminaires have a 65,000-hour rated life.) The expected total energy savings over the next 10 years is equal to eliminating 327,360 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.



The decision to install GE LED ceiling lighting follows a pilot program at Walmart’s first all-LED supercenter in South Euclid, Ohio, opened in October 2013.