Lux Magazine’s lighting economist, Dave Tilley writes... "My back-of-the-envelope calculation is based on 50 halogen lamps per business and 4,200 operating hours. Obviously some retailers will already have switched to LED (although in the great scheme of things, not many) or they may be using other technologies that are more efficient than halogen, such as ceramic metal halide and fluorescent. On the other hand, these estimates are only based on lighting one shop. Many of those 280,000 retailers have more than one – some have hundreds. So I think our estimates are pretty reasonable.

"LEDs have an ROI of less than 12 months, so the retail sector is missing a massive opportunity to save energy and money. The lighting energy saving is only part of the story. Replacing halogen with LEDs also reduces heat, which gives you knock-on savings on air conditioning. And it reduces the maintenance, which not only cuts the retailer’s costs, it also reduces transportation costs, leading to a further reduction in carbon emissions…

"I know I have said this on several occasions, but the government really could reduce the UK’s energy consumption by enforcing existing legislation and providing incentives to adopt LEDs, subject to quality and performance controls.”

To read the article in full on Lux’s website – click here.