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When it comes to achieving significant sustainability gains, an international retail giant has unique opportunities to cut energy use. With a total of 4,500 sites, Walmart’s commitment to efficiency in parking lighting in new construction and retrofits is paying off in major savings.

As a result of its lighting upgrades Walmart received individual Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign awards for a superstore, a neighborhood market and a Sam’s Club. Across 100 stores including both new and retrofitted sites, over 40 million square feet in surfaces for parking and over 100,000 parking spaces, Walmart is saving over 15 million kWh each year as a result of lighting upgrades.

Kimco Realty Corporation’s large facility portfolio could be considered quite challenging to some organizations trying to reduce energy savings, but Kimco was able to provide upgrades to 160 sites across 25 states over 2 years. The 50-year old real estate investment trust based in New Hyde Park, New York was a 2014 Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign winner for Largest Absolute Number of Facility Upgrades. Kimco has reduced their lighting energy usage primarily through the use of lighting controls for their parking lots representing approximately 51
million square feet of parking area. Kimco, which owns and operates over 800 shopping centers in North and South America, can add their LEEP accomplishments to their 2013 National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) award for leadership in sustainability and energy efficiency.

Regency Centers is a national owner, operator, and developer of neighborhood and community shopping centers with over 300 properties throughout the United States. Regency Centers recently upgraded the parking lot lighting at Rona Plaza in Santa Ana, California. Rona Plaza is a grocery-anchored shopping center with 52,000 square-feet of gross lettable area and 250 parking spaces across 77,000 square feet of parking area. Regency Centers retrofitted the existing parking lot and exterior wall mounted fixtures, which were high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures, with high efficiency LED fixtures coupled with a wireless dimming system. The retrofit resulted in energy savings of nearly 88% compared to pre-existing conditions and was recognized by the Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign with the Highest Percentage Energy Savings in a Retrofit at a Single Parking Area award.

JCPenney saved over 47 million kWh and $5 million with variable frequency drive retrofits of rooftop units across 131 stores. The case study describes the decision process and results of this successful program.

The goal of the study was to determine the extent to which empirical evidence gathered via existing studies demonstrates that efficiency contributes to better financial performance.

Over 50 relevant studies from the market were reviewed and compiled into this summary.

While this review originally sought to cover all research on energy efficiency and financial performance, the final product focuses on “green labeled” buildings. The majority of research to date uses LEED or ENERGY STAR certifications as the means of distinguishing between efficient or sustainable buildings and conventional buildings. Specific energy efficiency measures, while proven to result in energy cost savings, have not yet been extensively evaluated for broader impacts.

This study does not represent new analysis conducted by DOE. It is a comprehensive survey and summary of the current body of research on the impacts of green labels on key components of commercial buildings’ operating statements. It does not exclude any studies or evaluate the quality of analysis.

Case study on how Northern Arizona University achieved energy savings of 46 percent at its 94,400-sq-foot Student and Academic Services Building in Flagstaff, Arizona by installing LED lighting. Northern Arizona University was recently recognized in two categories for excellence and leadership in interior lighting by DOE’s Interior Lighting Campaign.

In this video, Paul Torcellini, principal group manager for Commercial Buildings Research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, discusses the importance of design and planning in creating more energy-efficient buildings.