Wegmans Cutting Lighting Costs in Half in Warehouses

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — By the end of the year, Wegmans Food Markets expects to cut by half the energy it uses for lighting at nearly all of the company’s warehouse complexes here.

The chain will replace 5,700 older metal halide and high-pressure sodium fixtures with new high-efficiency fluorescent fixtures with associated controls. Wegmans will spend a little more than $1.5 million to replace the older fixtures with more efficient ones, and expects to recoup its investment in the form of lower energy costs in about three years.

In addition to this project, all new Wegmans stores use high-efficiency fluorescent fixtures overhead, so aisles can be illuminated for 50% of the energy cost of the metal halide bulbs previously used. Wegmans is also using LED lighting for door units of freezer, dairy, and other cooler cases, as well as for exit signs and exterior display signs such as the Wegmans sign over the entrance of every store.

“We are pursuing environmentally friendly design, construction and maintenance practices where feasible in all of our facilities,” explained Carol Duquette, Wegmans’ vice president of design services and maintenance, in a statement.

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