Are Big Stores Having An Energy Saving Revolution?

Most of us visit shopping centres or large stores at various times in the week, including in the middle of a bright sunny day. Have you ever wondered about the waste of electricity that is involved in lighting a big superstore at midday on a Tuesday, when there are about 20 customers inside and the building is flooded with natural light from skylights? Probably the truthful answer is no; we get used to seeing shops that are brightly lit and never consider the environmental consequences.

Recently though, larger stores such as Homebase and Argos, among others, have decided that they need to take action to reduce their carbon footprint. In a revolutionary move, they have asked staff to turn off a quarter of their lighting on sunny days to save power and reduce energy bills. The Home Retail group who have overall control of some of the stores involved have reported that they have reduced their carbon footprint by 7% in the last year just by turning down the lights when they aren’t needed.

Customer Idea Proves Energy Saving in the US

The need to think about the environment and our impact on it is not just something that is important in the UK. Every country in the world needs to tackle these issues to delay or prevent further climate change and global warming. In the US, which is one of the biggest energy consumers in the world, one simple idea from a customer saved a large chain of stores over 2 million dollars in its energy bills. Wal-mart, which is a bigger version of a store similar to Woolworths, now no longer with us, has drinks cabinets in nearly every store. These are also common in the UK – stacks of drinks inside chiller cabinets with backlighting and mirrors.

One Wal-mart customer thought that this was using energy when there was no reason and wrote to the board of the company to suggest that they turned off the back lights in all their chiller cabinets. The light from the normal store lights were fine to allow customers to see what they wanted to buy. The management thought it was worth trying and, after their massive saving; the lights won’t be going back on.

Safety Concerns about Saving Energy

In the UK, householders are being urged to save energy in small ways by not leaving lights on in rooms not being used, and by doing things like turning Christmas lights off at night. This seems sensible for safety too but other suggestions have raised safety concerns. Some councils, for example, have decided to reduce the times and zones in which street lights operate during the winter. This is fine if the timing is to be improved to avoid having street lights on during the lighter mornings, which is a waste, but leaving rural roads unlit may save money and power, but it could lead to more accidents.

Plastic Bags Remain an Issue

Some stores are making progress to reduce their carbon footprint by cutting down the plastic bags they use for customer’s shopping. As well as using energy to make, plastic bags cause an environmental hazard to wildlife, causing choking in small animals and even death to whales and large fish when they get into the sea. M&S have been charging 5p for a carrier bag for some time now to encourage customers to reuse their own bags to avoid paying extra for their shopping. Other supermarkets and stores have brought out their own branded reusable bags, either made from stronger plastic with a woven backing, or environmentally friendly hessian.

Still a Long Way to Go

In reality, although it is good that larger stores are thinking in terms of saving energy and reducing their carbon footprint, they are just working at the very tip of the iceberg. Visiting a large shopping centre in winter is still like going into a tropical paradise and customers are forever taking their coats on and off to cope with the intense heating in many stores. Turning down the thermostats a few degrees could save energy and reduce their bills and make it more comfortable to shop. Hopefully some of them are thinking about it in time for next winter.

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