BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart, an early adopter of LED lighting systems in the retail setting, announced plans to purchase LED ceiling fixtures for new Supercenters in North America and China and units of its subsidiary Asda Stores Ltd. in the United Kingdom.

Walmart, an early adopter of LED lighting systems in the retail setting, announced plans to purchase LED ceiling fixtures for new Supercenters in North America and China and units of its subsidiary Asda Stores Ltd. in the United Kingdom.

The lights, made by GE Lighting, a unit of conglomerate General Electric Co., have longer life spans and lower maintenance costs than traditional retail lighting fixtures, Walmart says.

"We have worked to find and scale energy-efficient LED lighting solutions that are cost effective and high quality," says Walmart president and chief executive officer Doug McMillon. "And now, working with GE, we’re paving the way to make this a mainstream solution for the retail industry."

The new fixtures will use 40% less energy than lighting sources historically used in stores. The retailer notes that the LED lighting will advance its goal of reducing the electricity needed to power Walmart’s buildings worldwide by 20% by 2020.

"LEDs have become an integral part of our energy-efficiency model for our stores and play a key role in achieving our overall sustainability goals," McMillon says. "Just as important, the energy cost savings coming from these innovations will help us maintain the low prices our customers depend on us to provide."

Walmart and GE have collaborated before to develop lighting products to address Walmart’s needs. Walmart began incorporating LEDs in its signage in 2003, and it was among the first retailers to switch to LED lighting in its parking lots in the United States and internationally.

The new lighting fixtures for the stores’ main sales floors represent 90% of lighting demand for its Supercenter buildings, Walmart says, and implementation is calculated to bring down per-store energy use by 5% in the retailer’s U.S. stores.