Sunday is World Environment Day and Sears Canada has generated a brilliant idea to celebrate it.
Together, its stores will be the site of one of the largest replacements of inefficient lighting ever completed internationally.
More than 130,000 inefficient incandescent spotlights will be replaced with energy-saving LED (light-emitting diode) lighting in all Sears Home and full-line stores across the country. The company says the retrofit will reduce its electricity use by more than 16 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, saving enough energy to enable 197,000 families to use the most efficient washing machines for a full year.
Sears Canada is also helping us become "agents of positive environmental change" -- while saving money in the process -- by banning the sale of inefficient incandescent and halogen lighting. This move makes it the first national retailer to do so.
Earlier this week, the company was named the 2011 Energy Star Retailer of the Year by Natural Resources Canada for the fourth year in a row.
World Environment Day was created by the United Nations "to inspire and empower individuals, communities and businesses globally to take positive environmental action."