Sainsbury's and Toyota lead commercial LED lighting revolution

Sainsbury's has continued in its quest to become the UK's greenest grocer by launching a sustainability competition that hopes to see the supermarket chain team up with eco-friendly SMEs to develop new sustainable solutions.

According to GreenWise, the retailer hopes to showcase market-ready innovations across its 900 UK stores by teaming up with charity organisation Institute for Sustainability (IfS).

The partnership is hoping to elevate innovative low carbon lighting solutions such as LED lighting and water retention techniques by small British businesses and potentially roll them out across their stores.

"The market in climate change adaptation and mitigation innovations is still young, and a lack of confidence in new approaches, restricted opportunities to trial innovations and concerns about risk and rewards are acting as barriers to take-up," said IfS chief Ian Short.

"By working closely with potential buyers to understand their issues and requirements better, we hope to stimulate suppliers, innovators and researchers," he continued.

And the supermarket chain is committed to cutting carbon costs: Sainsbury's has pledged to reduce operational emissions by 30 per cent on 2005 level by 2020, with lighting being a major cost. Rough counts put the lighting spend at between 14 and 20 per cent of a store's overheads, with reducing both electricity bills and water consumption being a priority for the chain.

The scheme is being backed by Climate-KIC, a £602 million programme run by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and marks a trend in large-scale chains offering small innovators is a way of getting more innovation into the market. Toyota this week announced plans to embrace LED lighting in an effort to cut commercial costs.

In the meantime, for commercial and residential property alike, LED light bulbs are an affordable solution. While the upfront costs are a little higher than a traditional 60W bulb, the lower energy cost and increased lifespan of energy efficient bulbs means they pay for themselves over the course of their use.