Efficient Lighting from GE Delivers $775,000 Annual Discount for Limited Brands

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE: LTD) has deployed energy-efficient lighting from GE Consumer & Industrial (NYSE: GE) for a comprehensive lighting retrofit of five distribution centers at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Within the 3.5 million square feet of impacted facilities, the company’s lighting energy consumption has been cut by 50 percent. Limited Brands expects annualized energy and maintenance cost savings of approximately $775,000.

Specifically, Limited Brands is expected to achieve $650,000 in energy savings and $125,000 in maintenance savings annually. In addition to enabling significant cost savings, the new lighting dramatically increases light levels, making some areas of the facilities up to four times brighter.

“We’re constantly examining new strategies for enhancing the efficiency of our lighting,” says Ronald T. Rau, vice president of stores and facilities maintenance. “With this project, and others underway now, we’re doing more than just trimming electricity bills. We’re contributing to our sustainability initiatives while improving the work environment of our associates.”

For the retrofit, Limited Brands used new, more efficient lighting: GE T5 High-Output Starcoat® Ecolux® lamps, TCLP-compliant 2-foot and 3-foot T8 Watt-Miser® lamps (both 28 and 23 watts) and GE UltramaxTM T8 Ballasts. Additionally, the fixtures are equipped with motion sensors, so the lamps are only operating when there is activity in the area.

“Limited Brands has extended its re-lamp cycles with lighting choices such as the new T8 lamps, which offer a 24,000-hour rated life at 12 hours per start,” says Mary Beth Gotti, manager of the GE Lighting & Electrical Institute, GE Consumer & Industrial. “That’s a great move because the company saves energy while also minimizing disruptions to workflows in busy distribution centers.”