LED lamps: Restaurant uses LED Lamp

Restaurant uses LED Lamp

When a company with multiple locations takes the plunge to make a difference environmentally it has to be applauded for choosing to do the right thing for the community and the environment. An announcement this week is marginally historic in that it represents the largest single roll-out of LED lamp technology in US history. Brinker International is the parent company that owns the restaurant chains Chili’s and Maggiano’s who collectively operate more than 825 restaurants.

A restaurant using LED lighting

Brinker have announced that in the coming months each location will be refitted with the most current LED lighting technology as part of a modernization program. In all more than 125,000 LED lamps will be added to the interiors and exteriors of each restaurant. The contract for the installations has been awarded to ‘eco-story’ due to their proven track record of manufacturing customized LED lighting specific to the restaurant, retail and hotel industry. A specific bulb/lamp is required to generate the colour that is considered to be optimal for dining establishments which eco-story specialize in.

A testing phase has now been completed in 10 locations which led to the final decision by Brinker to proceed with the project on a company wide basis. The savings in energy use from a pure consumption standpoint will be significant across the board in addition to the fact that the company expects electricity savings to run at approximately $4,500 per year per store. Total savings for the company will be in excess of $3.7 million per year while at the same time greatly reducing the use of power. Both figures reinforce the substantial benefits that can be obtained by making a commitment to more modern energy use processes. It is anticipated that by summer of 2011 the project will be complete throughout the multiple locations. Moreover I think as more customers are made aware of the efforts made by large recognised chains the pressure will mount on their competition which should result in LED lighting being in place in a far greater ratio of restaurants.

Kevin Falconer of Brinker added:

“Our team studied LED lights for a long time and tested many makes and models and we feel our stores look better now than before,”

The co-founder of Eco-story expressed:

“This was a huge project with the most important goal of saving money while maintaining or improving light quality over traditional incandescent lamps. The Chili’s stores look fantastic and the savings and ROI that Brinker will realize is simply amazing.”

You can learn much more about Eco-story via their website, it’s an interesting company that was founded upon the principle that logical environmental improvements can also make strong economic sense.