Sears Canada Bans Inefficient Lighting, Moves to LEDs

June 10th, 2011 by Elizabeth Smyth

Sears lighting

Sears Canada has become the first major retailer of the country to ban the sale of inefficient incandescent and halogen lighting, opting instead to sell only energy-efficient LED and CFL (compact fluorescent) alternatives. Sears, a 2011 ENERGY STAR Retailer of the Year, isn’t simply relying on their consumers making the switch but the stores themselves have recently undergone a major lighting retrofit. Replacing more than 130,000 inefficient incandescent spotlights with energy-saving LEDs (light-emitting diodes) in stores across Canada. The move is the largest-ever incandescent spotlight replacement in Canada.

“The retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.” – Sears CA.

The retrofit to LEDs was completed just in time for United Nations’ World Environment Day (WED) on Sunday June 5th. WED is an annual event aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action.

Photo ©Sears Holdings Corp.

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Tags: CFL, lighting retrofits, Sears

About the Author

Elizabeth Smyth is a writer for Precision Paragon, an energy efficient commercial lighting manufacturer and a leading source for lighting retrofit solutions.

Gradivus

What idiocy! Incandescent bulbs are not only inexpensive, but in a northern country like Canada they are very efficient. In fact, whenever the temperature is low enough to require a home or other building to be heated, incandescent bulbs are 100% efficient for indoor use, since what energy is not used to generate light, generates heat. Banning them is a further example of the shortsighted evangelical doctrine-driven fuzzyheaded thinking of the “green revolution” zealots.
- Jimidean
  
  Are your lights on when you need heat? are they providing heat to the right part of your home? What is the efficiency of a heat pump (400%)? Think before driving your own doctrine
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BPPOQQCU53LHMTRN7I2WQNMP2Q gradivus
    
    Indirect sunlight lights my home in the summer; I only use incandescent bulbs when my heater is running because it’s colder outside, at which time incandescent bulbs are 100% efficient (all the energy produces either light or heat). If others unwisely choose to do otherwise by using incandescent bulbs when it’s hotter outside, they can suffer for it; but a free people deserve the right to make their own choice and live by the consequences of their decisions, rather than suffer a legally mandated solution that reduces liberty by denying the ability to use incandescent bulbs when conditions are such that they are the most efficient choice. “Those who would sacrifice freedom for a little energy efficiency deserve neither.” I think Benjamin Franklin would say that, were he alive today.
    - Bob_Wallace
      
      I don’t buy your bull. You never turn on a light when it is hot in your house?
      
      You believe that incandescent lamps are good ways to heat your living space?
      
      Come on. All you want to do is tea party rant.
      
      Take some responsibility for your actions. By wasting energy you cause the rest of us to pay more for new generation. And you prolong the life of coal on the grid which costs us all a lot of tax and health insurance money.
      
      If you want to be an island unto yourself go live on one. If you want to live around others then quit harming them with your selfish ideological behavior.
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BPPOQQCU53LHMTRN7I2WQNMP2Q gradivus
        
        When fascism comes to America (and Canada) it wears a smile and says “it’s for your own good.” Fascism, of course, is the political philosophy that all must conform to mutually beneficial behavior for the common good. Not should, must – no choice. It’s for your own good.
        
        And if you stand up for your freedoms you will be vilified, accused of selfishness, called a liar and have your motives impugned with no evidence, and generally be subjected to name-calling by hatemongers who cannot debate the issue on its own merits, but resort to ad hominem attacks. Like this guy.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        Fascism, if it comes to the US, will be brought by selfish people who use government to tilt things in their favor.
        
        Fascism, of course, is not “the political philosophy that all must conform to mutually beneficial behavior for the common good.” That’s just some crap you made up.
        
        Here’s a decent description of what fascism is…
        
        ”
        Fascism ( /ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology.[1][2] Fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through atotalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination,physical training, and eugenics ”
        
        (wiki)
        
        If you want to see the seeds of fascism at work in the US, look to the anti-immigrant, anti-minority right. What you’ll see is a bunch of power hungry politicians who push hate of others in order to build their ranks. It started with Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” and it continues even today with Candidate Mitt.
        
        Interestingly, those are the same politicians who support the fossil fuel industries and oppose efficiency and renewable energy….
Mr Ghwardron

Always nice to see when someone leads by example. I hope more stores will follow and ban incandescents altogether.
Ben

Cool.

Another nitpick, I really don’t like this quote:
“The
retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16
million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable
197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full
year.” Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)

“The
retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16
million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable
197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full
year.” Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
“The retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16
million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable
197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full
year.”

The standard in journalism seems to be comparing to how many houses that would power in one year. Lets stick with that standard and not change it to how many efficient washing machines it will power for a full year.
“The
retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16
million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable
197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full
year.” Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
“The
retrofit will reduce the company’s electricity use by more than 16
million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable
197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full
year.” Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
- Mr Ghwardron
  
  You’re right. Comparing the energy savings with efficient washing machines is not a meaningful way to measure it, since very few people know how much power their washing machine uses and they certainly have no idea about the difference in energy use between a regular decade old washing machine and a brand new energy efficient one.
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
  saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12DmK)
Pete

My only nit to pick is that halogen bulbs ARE incandescant bulbs– just a specific type.

One very important factor that I never see mentioned is the cost of replacement. I am talkijng about the labor cost in total. CFL needs to be replaced approximatly ten times less often as incadescant, and leds up to ten times less often than that. That may not seem so bad in yer desk lamp, but what about the one over the stairways to a split-level house? Think of a school gym or the lights in a warehouse. Many of these are hard to get at, thus taking a long time to replace at many dollars per hour. Many warehouse fixtures simply cannot practically be reached with a ladder. A forklift can be used unless the OSHA man happens to see. Big fine. Just leave it burnt out? That can earn you a fine as well in some cases.

The biggest hidden cost is safety. That burnt out bulb in the aforementioned split-level entryway could cost your indesrtuctible teenager a broken limb. If a starnger falls ‘cuz you were too cheap/lazy/tired of changing bulbs, you could get sued. A single trip to the emergency room will cost a lot more than many led bulbs.Leds need changing twenty to a hundred times less often. That is twenty to a hundred times safer in the long run. The labor savings alone more than pay for the leds, The safety factor means that bldg managers should RUN(safely) to buy their hundreds of led replacement bulbs. Fewer trips up the ladder mean fewer trips to the emergency room. it all comes down to money, and that should convince the most stubborn boss/spouse.

Pete
- Anonymous
  
  good points, Pete.
  
  & even on the normal bulbs, time costs are an important factor that most people don’t consider enough. of course, it might be obsessive to calculate these (on the desk lamp scale) but it is another worthwhile argument.