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Content archived on 2022-12-27

USE OF SOLAR ENERGY TO REPLACE ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN A HYPERMARKET

Objective

The aim of this project was twofold : the reduction of electricity consumption used for lighting a 10,000 m2 hypermarket situated in Southern France and the improvement of the internal environment for customers and employees. Both have been successfully attained by installing on the roof of the hypermarket, translucent domes which allow sunlight into the building. The project has resulted in savings of ca. 165 TOE/yr and a payback of 8 years. Subsequent replication of this project by AUCHAN has led to reductions in the cost of the domes and a payback time of 4 years.
The result of the sophisticated application of these simple techniques has been the spread of daylighting techniques to 16 other AUCHAN hypermarkets with plans for 6 others in 1987.
Significant cost reductions have been made following large scale purchases of the domes and a payback of 4 years can be expected, not to mention the increased "comfort" of customers and employees.
133 translucent domes varying in size from 4.2 m2 to 8,4 m2 were placed on the roof of a 10,000 m2 hypermarket in Perpignan, Southern France. The total surface area of the domes, 705 m2 or ca.7% of the floor area, was calculated to ensure a sufficient level of interior daylighting in order to reduce annual electricity consumption by 70% during 4800 hours. In fact the resulting natural light entering the building is greater than foreseen and often surpasses 300 LUX (measured at floor level) in winter and 500 LUX in summer.
Each dome, made from a 16 mm methylacrylate double skin and supported on a metal frame, has an R value of 3,5 deg. C/m2/watt. This compares with the roof which has an R value of 1. In order to prevent the sun's rays striking refrigerators placed in certain areas of the market, automatically operated sun shades have been placed above the domes installed on the roof over these areas.
To enhance the daylighting effect, the interior of the building was repainted withlight reflecting paint. Electronic controllers ensure that optimum use is made of the low energy electric lights.
Financial savings have thus been guaranteed by : a reduction in artificial lighting and heating in winter; a decrease in the cost of maintaining light fittings. Following surveys of customers and employees the expectations regarding improvement of the internal environment resulting from the above measures, have been fulfilled. Total cost 1.8 MFF of which ca. 890 000 FF was the cost of the domes installed.

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

DEM - Demonstration contracts

Coordinator

AUCHAN SERVICES TECHNIQUES CENTRAUX
EU contribution
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Address
RUE DE LA RECHERCHE 200
59650 VILLENEUVE D'ASQ
France

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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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