Switched to led in 125 stores

HORNBACH - Bornheim, DE - HORNBACH Baumarkt AG, a member of the Hornbach Group, currently operates 169 DIY megastores with garden centers and two specialized stores in nine European countries, including 98 locations in Germany. With sales of around Euro 5.9 billion, the company is one of the three largest DIY chains in Germany. Hornbach Baumarkt AG employs a good 25,000 people and offers a huge range of products with a total sales area of 2 million square meters, which currently includes 250,000 articles in Germany.

With Aura Light, Hornbach Baumarkt AG converted 125 DIY and garden center shops to environmentally-friendly LED lighting. The start was made in 2020 with a luminaire replacement in the Hornbach store at the central location in Bornheim in the south of Germany. Based on the positive experience at the test shop, the go-ahead was given for conversion at a further 124 shops across Europe.

Aura Certos

The challenge was to achieve better light quality and the greatest possible energy savings with the same light points. In all branches, the existing luminaires were therefore replaced by the LED Highbay luminaire Certos. In order to illuminate the different aisles and shelves optimally, the luminaire was used in the 120-watt version and with different beam characteristics. In this way, a uniform light output without dark zones was achieved. In addition to outstanding lighting quality, the Certos also has a low glare effect despite LED lens technology, so that both the shopping experience for customers and the working environment for employees are improved, and pleasant for both customers and staff.

In addition to better luminous efficacy, the switch to LED technology leads to considerable energy savings and cost reductions. Here, the efficiency of the lighting solution was once again increased by integrating an existing light management system by means of daylight-dependent control. The Certos’ long service life of 100,000 hours also saves maintenance for several years.

Great electricity cost savings

“The LED luminaires have a longer service life and save a lot of energy on top of that,” explains Erich Harsch, CEO of Hornbach Baumarkt AG. He puts the annual electricity cost savings at more than four million euros. “Converted, this step also means a significant reduction in our CO2 footprint by several thousand tonnes of CO2 annually,” says Harsch.