Walmart and GE Transforming Retail Lighting with Energy-Efficient LEDs Globally

Walmart announced plans today to purchase energy-efficient LED ceiling lighting fixtures for new supercenters in the United States, stores in Asia and Latin America, and Asda locations in the United Kingdom. The new fixtures will use 40 percent less energy than lighting sources historically used in stores, and will help further the retailer’s goal to reduce the kilowatt hour (kWh) per square foot of energy required to power Walmart’s buildings globally 20 percent by 2020. This is Walmart’s largest purchase of GE LED lighting to date, and the most recent example of leadership from Walmart and GE to find and scale innovative, energy-efficient lighting solutions.

With the main sales floor lighting representing approximately 90 percent of the total lighting usage in each building, this implementation will reduce energy use per store by more than 5 percent in the U.S. alone. The lights have a longer life span than traditional lighting fixtures and also offer significant savings in maintenance costs.

Walmart and GE have a rich history of collaborating to develop lighting products to meet Walmart’s needs. Walmart pioneered the use of LED systems in the retail setting and was an early adopter of LED signage in 2003. In 2005, Walmart worked with GE to install what is believed to be the first major rollout of an LED freezer case. Additionally, Walmart’s store parking lots in the U.S. and abroad were among the first in the industry to switch to LED lighting fixtures.

The move to LED ceiling lighting in the U.S. is expected to produce an energy savings of 340,000 kilowatt hours per store – equating to more than $34,000 in savings per year in each store (figured at 10.13 cents per kWh1). With 200 new Walmart stores adopting the new GE LED ceiling lighting over the next two years, this amounts to a total energy savings of 620 million kWh over the next 10 years — savings Walmart expects to pass on to its customers through its everyday low prices.

This expected total energy savings over the next ten years is equal to eliminating 327,360 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions — or the annual greenhouse gas emissions from more than 68,000 passenger vehicles or the energy use of nearly 30,000 American homes for one year.2