Retail stores shift to electricity-saving LED lights

There's a push for energy-efficient lighting and, at various retail outlets across the country, the bulbs are gaining some traction in parking lots.

LED lighting is currently being tested in hopes to offer a stark new look to parking lots of retail stores and shopping malls in the U.S. Last year, Wal-Mart, DOE and 11 other major retailers began to collaborate on how to make LED lighting successful in various retail parking lots throughout the nation.

For example, if you pull into the Walmart parking lot in Leavenworth, Kansas, you will see it is currently in LED testing.

What are the benefits of LED lighting? An article in the NY Times reports the benefits. More than 40 retailers all part of Retailer Energy Alliance, a coalition working with the Energy Department to find ways to reduce energy through new technology. Many LED lights offer 50 percent energy savings and 80 percent less in maintenance costs, while reducing light "drift," which is light pollution that is carried into nearby neighborhoods.

The cons of LED lighting include the high cost of installation. The Retailer Energy Alliance, along with two other alliances, are working together on this issue, applying specifications to common energy applications.

Don Moseley, Wal-Mart's director of sustainable facilities comments on the high cost, "While that cost is an important decision, if all the other parameters prove true and the other savings are there, and we have a safe and secure shopping environment, at that point, then, we try to negotiate for volume purchase."