http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/08/16/food-city-lighting-refit-to-save-337000-a-year/

 

Grocery chain Food City should save $337,000 a year in lighting and maintenance costs following the installation of GE Lighting products in its coolers, GE has said.

 

The chain installed GE Lighting's Immersion RV40 LED lighting in coolers across 89 stores in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. GE expects the company to save $300,000 a year in energy bills based on an electricity rate of $0.11 per kWh and case lighting use of 18 hours per day.

Food City chose an LED upgrade after it determined it could significantly cut lighting and refrigeration costs, its leading overhead expenses, and reduce its number of service calls, GE says. Prior to the installation, Food City spent $37,000 a year sending contractors to the stores for maintenance, the grocery chain says.

Visual appeal also played a role in Food City's choice of the GE system. Using advanced optics, the Immersion RV40 system diminishes glare while better illuminating food packaging colors, GE says.

A GE lighting refit at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio, announced earlier this month, is saving the healthcare center $13,000 a year in energy costs.

Aultman's average expense to light its parking lot, equipped with high-pressure sodium lights, was $1,500 a month including the cost of an electrical contractor to replace failed fixtures. Since the LED conversion, the hospital's utility bill has fallen to $400.

In February, the World Wildlife Fund named Food City as one of 12 chains it contacted and asked to stop carrying products made with fiber from Asia Pulp & Paper, but that either did not commit or did not respond. WWF alleges that APP's processes destroy Indonesian rain forests and tiger habitats.