Retailers place great emphasis on sustainability in new construction projects. J C Penny Co., for example, opened its first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified store In August.¹ It is designed to consume 41 percent less energy compared to a conventional store. Beyond lower operating costs, certified retailers like Penny, Office Depot, Walmart, and others, earn the loyalty of environmentally conscious shoppers. Sustainability is also an evaluation criterion on Wall Street and often a prerequisite for construction loans.

But what can be done in an existing store to move toward sustainability? Lighting is a relatively easy area to reduce operating costs and we have discussed that topic.² But lowering operating costs is not the only objective of sustainable lighting. Lets take a look at what sustainable lighting is, whether LEDs are a magic solution, and what can be done to achieve sustainable lighting in existing buildings.

Sustainable Lighting Defined

Sustainable lighting is, "Lighting that meets the qualitative needs of the visual environment with the least impact on the physical environment.”³ It is really important to understand and to meet the criteria of both parts of the definition. We could turn the store lights off to reduce our impact on the environment, but that would not meet the visual needs of our customers.

The Visual Environment

The first goal of sustainable lighting, meeting the needs of the visual environment, may seem to be contrary to having the least impact on the physical environment. The fact is, providing quality light typically minimizes the amount of energy used. Innkeepers, for example, often buy the cheapest compact fluorescent in a lower wattage than actually required while thinking they will maximize savings. When we get to our room we find it necessary to turn on all the cheap lights to see what we are doing. The net result of the cheap approach is higher energy consumption with greater environmental impact.
Quality lighting is all about presenting color and detail at retail. Why else would grocers, including Walmart, put the most expensive light source in produce and bakery departments? Sales in those departments increase 85% with “good” light.

Why would auto parts stores buy the best fluorescent tubes rather than saving a buck? They know that quality lighting is important to the way customers perceive the store and its products.

LEDs or Solid State Lighting (SSL) like these from Philips are screw-in replacements that match the output of 45 and 50-watt halogen bulbs. Technological challenges stand in the way of more powerful SSLs to replace 75 and 90-watt halogens used by most furniture stores.

Pop, Sparkle & Texture

If color is the first requirement of retail lighting, then pop, sparkle and texture are next on the list. Accent lighting adds these elements of visual interest to the sales floor. Accent lighting helps the customer focus on what is important by making important items at least twice as bright as the background lighting. Accent lighting adds the sparkle to a diamond, a chandelier, or china place setting. Accent lighting also shows textures by creating shadows that provide depth and contrast to what we see.

Pop, sparkle and texture can only come from lights that are point sources. Bulbs that generate light along the surface of the bulb, like fluorescents, are called diffuse sources. The beauty of a diffuse light source is that it does not cast shadows. Fluorescent light is great for background or general lighting, but not good for accent lighting (as in track lighting) because of this shadow/texture issue.

The Physical Environment

The environmental issue for lighting isn’t the use of scarce resources to make lighting products, or even what goes to the landfill at the end of the product’s life. The real issue is the demand for electricity lighting creates. Generating electricity typically releases greenhouse gasses and mercury into the environment. Lighting products that reduce demand for electricity, are recyclable, or reduce the demand for additional products, move us toward sustainability.

Linear fluorescent products, like T8 lamps used in 2x4 fixtures, need about 30% less electricity than the products they replace. The lamps are 99% recyclable and their service life, how long they last, is commonly 10-12 years, so that fewer replacement products are required.

Compact fluorescent lamps that also contain mercury often go to the landfill but, because they use 75% less electricity than the incandescents they replace, the release of mercury into the environment is greatly reduced. We get 53% of our electricity from burning coal; coal naturally contains mercury and burning coal releases mercury.

Any amount of electricity saved, reduces our impact on the physical environment. Using efficient, incandescent lighting products can achieve a 30% reduction in electricity consumption, but still give us the pop, sparkle and texture that are seen as necessary by even the most strict lighting regulations. But what if there were a way to generate light with the energy savings and long life of a fluorescent, but without mercury? What if the source could also give us the pop we need to merchandise our stores? We have been hoping that LEDs would be the answer.

About LEDs

Compact fluorescent bulbs are the recent rage in lighting, but they were actually invented in the 1970s. At that time major lighting manufacturers didn’t want to invest in the technology necessary to bring a quality product to market. A lot of products that did get to market were junk that didn’t come on instantly, maintain light output, or even have good color. Those flaws retarded consumer acceptance of compact fluorescents for 30 years.

The lighting industry does not want to repeat that experience with “solid state lighting,” what you and I generally call LEDs. National standards for solid state lighting products were..

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