Grocery Stores uses LED Lighting in their Sustainability Model

Star Market’s renovated store in Chestnut Hill in Newton, Mass., is breaking new ground for the supermarket industry in terms of sustainability, combining the use of fuel cell electricity, LED lighting, and glycol/carbon dioxide refrigeration. Not only is it the first grocery store in the nation to receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership platinum award, but it’s one of the first to be lit entirely with LEDs.

The advanced refrigeration technology in the store, which is part of Supervalu’s Shaw/Star Market line of supermarkets, significantly reduces its impact on climate change and the stratospheric ozone layer by cutting the use of refrigerants by 85%, compared with the typical supermarket. The heat-exchange fluids for the refrigeration systems are glycol (for cooler cases, such as dairy) and carbon dioxide (for the colder freezer cases). The use of glycol and carbon dioxide will translate into a reduction in refrigerant charge of up to 90%.

“This store shows that smart design and advanced technologies help us right now to better protect our climate, the ozone layer, and our health,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.

The GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership is an EPA cooperative alliance with the supermarket industry to promote advanced technologies, strategies, and practices that reduce refrigerant charges and emissions of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases.

The supermarket is powered by an ultra-clean fuel cell, which is virtually pollution free. It uses natural gas, and its by-products are water and heat energy. By using the fuel cell, Star Market is guaranteed power at all times for refrigeration, HVAC, elevators, cash registers and lighting. The harnessed heat energy will cool refrigeration cases (through absorption chiller technology) year round and heat the store in the winter. By providing virtually all the power for the store, the fuel cell does not tax the public power grid.

Lighting: Solid-state lighting, or LEDs, provide all the illumination, both on the exterior and interior, at the supermarket, which has about 35,000 sq. ft. of selling space. The LEDs, are expected to last eight to 10 years. In contrast, conventional lighting lasts approximately eight to 18 months. Star Market estimates that the LEDS will reduce energy usage by 50% to 65.

The lighting was supplied by Osram Sylvania.

In other energy-saving features, automated pull-down shades cover the deli and produce cases.

According to published reports, the Chestnut Hill store is a test lab for energy-efficient technologies that Supervalu hopes to use next in California.