David, Goliath Team Up for Earth Friendly Initiative

Helping Preserve the Environment Will Roll Back Electric Utility Bills

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

AURORA, CO, November 14, 2005. Wal-Mart, a goliath retailer, is teaming up with a David-size company that created an advanced daylighting system to help eliminate electric lighting during the day in parts of its new experimental Supercenter in Aurora. The store opened for business on Nov. 9.

Wal-Mart anticipates the system will help it contribute to the company's earth-friendly effort to preserve the environment by rolling back electricity consumption. Saving electricity helps roll back production of air pollution caused by generating electricity from coal and natural gas.

Based on the area's $0.075 kWh rate for commercial businesses, the 28 daylighting units at the Aurora Supercenter could save a total of $23,184 yearly, compared to fluorescent lamps totaling the same light output. Each daylighting unit produces illumination equaling 800 watts of fluorescent lighting.

That savings would avoid producing 618,200 pounds of atmosphere-warming carbon dioxide, 1,793 pounds of nitrogen oxides and 1,076 pounds of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides pollute air, creating smog. Nitrogen oxides harm the earth's ozone layer.

Besides helping preserve the environment, Wal-Mart could make serious inroads on its electric utility bill for lighting.

The advanced daylighting system, the ADS-600 created by So-Luminaire of Carlsbad, Calif., is one of a number of cutting edge, environmentally friendly technologies that will be put through their paces at the store. Taking advantage of sunlight is a significant part of the environmental effort.

Don Moseley, Wal-Mart's manager of Experimental Projects, said, "The store has an atypical roof structure with large clerestory windows that provide natural daylighting for much of the Supercenter."

But the stockroom and receiving areas have a flat roof and windowless walls. Except for loading doors, there was no opportunity to put daylight to work there. Skylights don't produce enough light, so it was an ideal application for the So-Luminaire system.

Energy efficient T8 fluorescent lamps also have been installed in the areas to complement the daylighting system. On cloudy days, the lamps will supplement sunlight that the daylighting system spreads throughout the work areas. The lamps also will provide illumination at night.

Automatic dimmers connected to the lamps will be monitored to determine the amount of electricity needed to maintain the desired light level of 75 footcandles.

"We'll learn if we can completely eliminate electric lighting in those areas during the day," Moseley said. So-Luminaire President Jacque Stevens projects significant savings.

"In other installations, the units have shown they can produce enough illumination to make electric lighting unnecessary on all but cloudy days," she said. The Aurora area averages 115 sunny days a year so the units' light production should be impressive, which will help ensure Wal-Mart's earth friendly initiative succeed.

For more information about the ADS-600 automated skylight, contact So-Luminaire 800-676-5276, or visit www.so-luminaire.com.