Starbucks Goes Bonkers for LED Lights

By Michael Kanellos

Coffee behemoth Starbucks (SBUX) will replace conventional lights with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs in 8,000 stores by March of next year.

The switch from incandescents and other vacuum-and-chemical lights to solid state lighting is expected to reduce energy consumption in a store by 7 percent. Starbucks overall has a goal of reducing energy consumption by 25 percent by the end of next year. (Suggestion from an occasional consumer: Turn down the temperature on the tea.) The company also said it will incorporate LEED concepts into pilot stores.

The LED lights come from General Electric (GE), which tweaked one of its existing designs to meet the aesthetic and design criteria of Starbucks. You just don't get that Starbucks mood lighting out of a box. 1,000 outlets in the U.S. have already been retrofitted with LEDs.

Lighting is undergoing a massive change. On Dec. 31, the hugely popular and highly inefficient Edison incandescent lamp turns 130 years old. The next day it's 2010, and Australia will move to phase them out. The EU, the U.S. and other nations will follow over the next few years.

LED manufacturers are expected to be some of the major beneficiaries of the swap. LEDs consume about one-tenth of the power of an incandescent and half of the power of fluorescents. The bulbs also last 50,000 hours, giving them a 19 to 20-year effective lifespan.

While the bulbs still cost far more than conventional bulbs, the price is coming down. Panasonic (PC), Sharp (SHCAY.PK) and Lemnis Lighting all have 60-watt equivalents that cost around $40. The commercial market will likely adopt LEDs first – the lower maintenance and replacement costs lead to a quicker payback. Consumers generally don't hire people to change their bulbs so the economic argument is tougher. Still, LED-makers like GE and Osram are experimenting with ways to these enhance lights – Osram has one coming for consumers that can splash muted colors into a room – to boost the shelf appeal.

Potentially, LEDs can also cut air conditioning bills because the light itself doesn't generate heat.

Commercial outlets will also likely begin to adopt networking to light fixtures to dim LEDs and fluorescents during the day to save power.

Photo via Flickr/Creative Commons.

Comments

[misther:]

This is a really bad idea. They should not light their
signs up at all. The led lights will make people look
away, rather than draw them in. This news story
sounds fake. I don't think Schultz would approve of
this "cock-a-manny" idea...Also, was in a local 'London
Drugs' store last night, or the night before...Saw a
flashlight for sale, that said the bulb would never need
replacing...I guess the bulb was LED, or LCD, or
something like that. But it also carried a warning: Do
not shine in your eye, or somebody else's eye, because
that might cause retinal damage...So, if Starbucks cares
about its customers, it won't worry about energy costs.
If they really want to save on electricity, just use the
non-electric signs, or invest in a solar panel to light up
the sign with a spotlight at night instead. But stay away
from LEDs and "high definition" display monitors...Its like
the tobacco industry story all over again...A lot of persons
are going to experience glaucoma...Maybe this is being done
so people correlate the glaucoma with the use of LED lights,
rather than the late stages of AIDS, which is growing unchecked.
Next Stop, The New World Order...The complete destruction of
the Judaic concept of family, or attempted destruction thereof.
Do HIV-infected females ALSO develop and die from AIDS?
The new money: pills...I guess the males who agree to toil and
pick the specialty green (are they not black?) coffee beans will
get more pills than they who work in the valley...Also, consider
these warning labels found on some dvd players that say:
Warning, do not open: invisible laser radiation...Energy costs?
How much energy do LED bulbs consume, for they seem awfully
bright? Why would you measure light energy in terms of dollars
instead of say, calories?

Nov 16 05:49 PM