Project description

Sustainable and economical lighting for ICA Maxi Falun

By reusing the fittings and diffusers and only replacing the luminaire inserts, the ICA Maxi supermarket in Falun got an economical and sustainable lighting upgrade.

ICA Maxi in Falun opened in 2007, and a few years ago, a major renovation and renewal of the store began.
“In connection with this, we also looked at our electricity costs, and refrigeration and lighting were among our significant expenses. Regarding lighting, there were significant costs both for electricity consumption and maintenance, with ongoing replacements of worn-out fluorescent tubes. We’ve always focused on making the store appear bright and inviting, so lighting is important to us. We realised it was time for an upgrade to a more energy-efficient and sustainable lighting solution,” says Niklas Bergström, ICA Maxi Falun’s store manager.

The renovation started with the approximately 4,500-square-metre sales area. For electrical installations and the replacement of the lighting, ICA Maxi Falun hired Carlgrens El, a company that regularly works for the supermarket.

“We installed the original luminaires, supplied by SG Armaturen, so it was natural to ask them about the best and most economical solution,” says Christer Engberg, an installer from Carlgrens El.

Lighting solution

Only the inserts needed replacing
There were around 615 luminaires (2 x 49W T5) installed in the suspended ceiling.

“I went to the site to talk to Carlgrens El and assess the conditions. Since we had supplied the original luminaires 16 years earlier, we wanted to explore the possibilities of using the existing luminaires as much as possible and only converting them to LED. So I contacted our factory to discuss this. After they looked it over, they gave a positive response: we could retain the fittings and diffusers of the luminaires, and only needed to replace the inserts. This was an economical and sustainable solution since it mainly involved using what had already been installed,” says Niclas Sjöstedt from SG Armaturen.

Quick connection
To facilitate and speed up the installation work, the factory also installed Ensto quick connection systems on all the new inserts supplied.

“The switch to new LED inserts was extremely fast and smooth. It was simply a matter of loosening four screws, removing the old insert, inserting the new one, and hooking up the quick connection. We took down the inserts in groups of 10 at a time and changed them in the supermarket’s storage area. We cleaned the fittings and diffusers while doing so,” says Christer Engberg.

Reuse
The switch to LED was done gradually over a period of time, taking into account the store’s day-to-day operations. In addition to the 615 luminaires where inserts were replaced, 260 luminaires were replaced with new custom-built asymmetric ones with the same suspension.

“We’re delighted with the end result. We have better illumination than before, and the light output has significantly increased. We expect this to reduce our energy consumption by about half compared to before, and also reduce maintenance costs. It was smart to use the existing fittings and diffusers, since the investment costs were lower and it’s more sustainable to reuse than buying new products,” Niklas Bergström concludes.

It was smart to use the existing fittings and diffusers, since the investment costs were lower and it’s more sustainable to reuse than buying new products.