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| GE Evolve LED Area Lights in Puerto Rico  Walmart continues its run as a retail industry innovator with a 22-store, island-wide move to GE Evolve LED Area Lights. The completed project is expected to save up to 48 percent of the electricity traditionally required to light its parking lots, while cutting maintenance costs by an estimated 75 percent. "Walmart is running hard and head-on at operational inefficiencies and sustainability concerns that it can address with technology solutions such as LEDs," says Jaime Irick, president and CEO of GE Lighting Solutions. "This commitment to use GE Evolve LED area lighting in Puerto Rico builds on what Walmart has accomplished globally with LED systems in signage and refrigerated display cases. They're continuing to set the standard for the industry."On average, nearly one-third of a Walmart store's energy consumption is tied to lighting. In addition to substantial energy and maintenance cost savings, the new LED parking lot lighting significantly reduces the greenhouse gas emissions associated with Walmart Puerto Rico's operations. Newly constructed Walmart stores in Puerto Rico will feature the energy efficient GE Evolve LED Area Lights. "In 2009 alone, Walmart Puerto Rico's operational energy efficiency initiatives saved more than 8.0-million kWh, equivalent to USD $1.4 million. A large portion of these energy-efficient initiatives are tied to the continuous lighting improvements that Walmart is working with GE to help us achieve," says Charles Zimmerman, vice president of international design and construction for Walmart. "Our latest initiative in Puerto Rico turns a high cost area such as outdoor lighting into an energy efficiency bellwether not only for our company on a global scale, but for the industry as a whole. We know outdoor LED lighting represents a huge opportunity for retailers to make strides economically and environmentally." The GE Evolve LED Area Light combines the latest in LED system electronics, thermal management, mechanical and optical design to make the advantages of LED lighting a practical reality in parking lots and general lighting applications. It offers retailers new construction and retrofit alternatives to 400-watt and 1000-watt parking lot lighting while providing an estimated 10-year service life (50,000-hour rated life) that is four times the recommended service interval of a traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting system such as metal halide. Light-level uniformity improves significantly with the LEDs because they more effectively throw light where it is intended, reducing hot spots and dark spots. The result is less reflected light and glare at all viewing angles, and improved utilization for a positive impact on property appearance, security and pedestrian visibility. Additionally, Evolve's optics offer more directional focus of light for on-site activities in the parking lot and controlled perimeter spill light, while reducing off-site light pollution to surrounding areas. The luminaire's low glare and high uniformity benefits promote improved performance in security camera operation, since cameras are susceptible to glare sources and work better with a smaller range of scene brightness. "Many of our stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so replacing traditional metal halide parking lot lamps every couple years is costly, " adds Zimmerman. "We like the idea that GE's outdoor LED systems only need to be replaced about every 10 years. In fact, we're counting on that performance." Consuming from 97 to 220 watts (depending on the lighting distribution pattern), the GE Evolve LED Area Light replaces traditional 400-watt to 1000-watt HID systems that can spill and waste light. It also improves visibility and quality of light with a comparatively higher color temperature (5700K) versus standard HID and a 70-plus color-rendering index. GE accomplishes this with lower lumens and energy savings because the fixture's advanced optical design leverages the LED characteristics to precisely deliver light and improve vertical foot candles. GE Evolve LED luminaires are RoHS compliant and contain no mercury or lead. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |