EUR 50 million “Green Investment”

For over six months now, SPAR’s two climate-friendly supermarkets in Engertstrasse, Vienna and Murau in Styria have been open for business and feeding back information on how their “green” technology is working in practice. The initial findings on the new technologies are now available and the company’s high expectations have been met in full. Among the facts that emerged was that, along with the HVAC systems, the lighting is proving a major energy consumer. SPAR promptly responded by triggering an investment of EUR 50 million in energy-efficient lighting solutions from the Zumtobel Company of Austria.

When SPAR opened two climate-friendly SPAR supermarkets in Austria on September 29 and 30, 2010 – one in Vienna and the other in Murau in the Styria region – the company had clear goals in mind: “First of all we wanted to try out new technologies at these locations to see how they performed in everyday operation before considering a roll-out at all SPAR locations in Austria. That’s in line with our goal of using new technologies to cut energy consumption by at least a third at every SPAR outlet that we open or renovate. Secondly, we were out get the message across to our customers that climate protection now affects each and every one of us and is a key topic for the future. And finally, of course, we were out to save energy at these locations from the outset and thereby reduce our CO2 footprint,” said SPAR board member Hans K. Reisch explaining the thinking behind the two climate-friendly SPAR supermarkets.

Six months on, the feedback on the technical performance as well as from SPAR’s customers has been very positive. “The budgeted savings of 80 (Murau) and 50 (Vienna) tonnes of CO2 a year are looking perfectly feasible, although it remains to be seen what the summer months will bring before we draw any conclusions about full-year operations across all four seasons,” said Reisch. “We’ve also encountered substantial interest among our customers at these locations and there’s been quite an echo in the national and international retail trade.” At the beginning of 2011, for example, a delegation of US building experts visited the climate-friendly SPAR market in Vienna and said they couldn’t think of a single supermarket in the United States that could currently match it for technical innovation.

Ever since they opened, the two climate-friendly SPAR supermarkets have been under ultra-close technical observation, with ongoing monitoring of the climate-related impact of the energy- and resource-saving measures employed. “It soon emerged that light is second only to the HVAC system in terms of energy consumption,” said SPAR board member Reisch. “That’s why the board of SPAR Austria decided to make a ‘green investment’ in our future.”

SPAR Austria has awarded an order worth EUR 50 million to the Zumtobel company of Austria. The project includes fitting the – globally unique – Tecton LED continuous row lighting system in all newly-built or renovated SPAR stores in Austria. SPAR is also considering rolling out this future-proof lighting concept at its Eastern European locations as well. Zumtobel has been partnering with SPAR for many years now and ranks among the global innovation leaders in the professional lighting field. The LED-based continuous row lighting system employed at the two climate-friendly SPAR supermarkets not only provides better quality of light but also reduces the energy consumption for the entire artificial lighting of the average supermarket location by 25 percent.

“We’re delighted at being awarded this order by SPAR Austria and consider it a major milestone in the breakthrough of LEDs as the technology of the future for general purpose lighting,” said Zumtobel Group CEO Dr. Harald Sommerer. “For us this project represents the first substantial roll-out of innovative LED luminaires across a wide geographical area. Three factors were decisive in winning the order: our innovative capabilities, our long-standing excellent relations with SPAR and the successful pilot projects in Murau and Vienna.”

The Tecton LED continuous row lighting system was developed by Zumtobel in cooperation with SPAR Austria and has since been included in the brand’s standard portfolio. The LED version of this proven Zumtobel product offers high quality of light generated by energy-efficient light sources. Effective thermal management within the luminaire ensures a long service life for the LEDs. This in turn leads to a dramatic reduction in maintenance cost and effort. Volume production will start at the Zumtobel plant in Dornbirn in July 2011. Together, development costs, new production equipment and tooling represent an up-front investment of around EUR 1 million.

The positive impact of this major order from SPAR will be felt most at the Zumtobel plant in Dornbirn. Tecton LED will give the brand’s leading product family – accounting for around 20% of revenues – crucial new impetus in terms of innovation. The further enhancement of this series, which is built at the Zumtobel Group’s home base in Dornbirn, means job security for many employees, in addition to which the production of Tecton LED will generate around 10 new jobs over the next two years.

Another innovative product from Zumtobel featured in SPAR markets in Austria is the Vivo Tunable Food LED spotlight. With this spotlight, specially designed for the illumination of fresh food such as vegetables, bread or meat, Zumtobel illustrates the innovative potential of LED technology, which is replacing complex conventional technology with its assorted reflectors and filters. Other advantages of this LED spotlight include lower heat emissions, no infra-red or ultra-violet radiation and outstanding colour rendering. “SPAR Austria and Zumtobel are united in striving for innovative and energy-efficient solutions. With this major order we are making an important contribution to climate protection and we are all looking forward to taking our collaboration forward in the future,” Reisch and Sommerer agreed.

(Source: http://www.zumtobelgroup.com/en/index.htm )