OREANDA-NEWS. GE Lighting is working with China Resources Vanguard to provide its supermarkets with new energy-efficient lighting solutions. More than 25 Vanguard supermarkets have made the switch to GE's Tetra® LED signage lighting systems, while several others are upgrading indoors as well with GE's T5 Watt-Miser™ linear fluorescent lamps and ConstantColor® CMH® lamps. China Resources Vanguard, one of the largest retail groups in China, has more than 4,000 retail outlets in more than 100 major cities.

“For general in-store lighting, the existing system used was not energy efficient and required frequent maintenance, and the quality of signage lighting could also be improved,” said Shen Xiaowei of GE Lighting, China. “We worked closely with China Resources Vanguard to understand its needs and serve as a trusted advisor, proposing a new lighting solution for the supermarkets' exteriors and interiors, which ensures the original lighting standard is enhanced while achieving energy and maintenance savings for our customer.”

China Resources Vanguard wanted an outdoor signage solution that would provide 800 lux for green areas and 1,000 lux for yellow areas respectively, with lumen maintenance at more than 70 percent after five years of 6-7 hours use per day. With this in mind, GE recommended Tetra miniMAX LED signage lighting that effectively increases panel illumination by 20 percent while providing energy savings of about 43 percent annually. GE's Tetra miniMAX system is used for miniature channel letter lighting for logo letters and is also ideal for cove lighting, accent or border lighting for commercial buildings.

In other stores, China Resources Vanguard was looking to replace old inefficient lighting systems that required frequent maintenance. The key consideration for the new system was to maintain original lighting standards while achieving energy savings. GE went on to retrofit the interior of several Vanguard supermarkets with its T5 Watt-Miser system. The elegant, slim T5 Watt-Miser linear fluorescent lamps are energy efficient and offer a long life of 25,000 hours, which greatly reduces maintenance and replacement costs.

GE's complete outdoor and indoor supermarket lighting solution will translate to significant savings for China Resources Vanguard. On an operating level, the supermarkets will save an estimated 20 percent or about USD 26,607 in energy costs each year, with a project payback period of two years. From an environmental perspective, this energy savings is equivalent to eliminating approximately 330,000 pounds of carbon dioxide car emissions per year, or planting 40 acres of new trees.

“We have worked with GE Lighting since 2008 and appreciate its team's in-depth understanding of our lighting needs,” said Fu Guanghui, Equipment Sourcing Manager for China Resources Vanguard. “With GE's LED and fluorescent lighting solutions, the quality of light is optimized at our supermarkets and the entire in-store ambience is enhanced. Our stores also stand out prominently at night with the improved signage illumination. We look forward to working with the GE team on our future lighting needs.”