LAGUNA NIGUEL &CHINO, Calif. -- EcoGreen Solutions is targeting Chevron stations, as well as other major national petroleum brands, for its EcoGreen's Petroleum Program energy savings program. It has embarked on a campaign to help convert gas station and convenience stores in the Southern California area--including Chevron, ARCO and Shell--from fluorescent, HID and other high-energy consuming light sources to LED.
Each store has between nine and 12 two-door refrigerated and freezer cases, 80% of which use six-foot fluorescent lamps. One of the major downfalls of fluorescent lamps in a refrigerated environment, according to EcoGreen, is the reduction in output and overall life of the lamps in temperatures at 4 degrees C (39 degree F). The efficiency of some fluorescent lamps drops as much as 40%. Fluorescent lamps also produce heat that freezer compressors need to cool, running more often and drawing more power.
Also, the fluorescent tube, mounted to the door hinge area, suffers up to 40% wasted light because the light is not being directed on the merchandise in the case.
To counter these issues, Laguna Niguel, Calif.-basedEcoGreen's president Anthony Mitchell said that the company is using the SimpleTube by American Bright Lighting, Chino, Calif. The SimpleTube runs cooler and does not produce additional heat in the cooler envelop thus making no draw in the compressor. The patented SimpleTube line of products is designed to replace shorter-life and higher-maintenance products, while saving as much as 80% on energy.
For the store owners at the Chevron locations throughout Southern California, such as franchisee Gary Analian in Pomona, the goal was to achieve a significant energy and cost savings. "My station runs 24/7, so the energy cost of running the lighting throughout the store, including the reach-in coolers was significant. My initial goal was to cut energy consumption by 30%, but EcoGreen felt they could surpass that with products like the SimpleTube," he said.
"The cooler cases are just one of many areas of lighting that we change out at the Chevron stations," said Mitchell.
By directing light on to the packaged goods inside the case, the SimpleTube provides a more uniform illumination of the product and eliminates glare and light spillage outside the case.
"The fixture is sleek looking and unobtrusive inside the case," said Analian," The product inside the case really pops."
EcoGreen works with utilities to provide turnkey solutions to customers such as the franchise owners of Chevron. The SimpleTube LED case light is a "qualified product" listed with the DesignLights Consortium (DLC).
"Our petroleum program often qualifies for zero out of pocket expenditure by the station owner," said Mitchell," The significant reduction in consumption also means that station owners will be far less impacted by rate increases which are based on actual usage."
The Chevron franchise owners are achieving as much as 80% energy savings on their refrigerated case lighting, the company said, while benefitting from better merchandise presentation and enhanced visibility that translated into better sales performance.
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