LIGHTING
50 per cent: The amount of businesses that admit to leaving lights on needlessly for up to eight hours a day
» Rob Shepherd is a freelance business journalist who specialises in the building services industry
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Autumn 2013 Connections
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Case study: Afflets Court Basildon-based sheltered housing complex Afflets Court comprises 60 one-bedroom flats. In managing the facility, Basildon District Council works closely with NICEIC Approved Contractor DSA Electrical, including identifying opportunities to reduce running costs while improving the environment for residents. To that end, much of the lighting in common areas has been upgraded to LED. In the internal corridors the light levels were very low so it was decided to upgrade the existing fluorescent fittings to Philips CoreView LED panel luminaires. As well as delivering a high light output, it now provides a uniform surface of light, serving to brighten the whole area and give it a more spacious feel. “In these areas the lighting had been left on for 24 hours a day,” says David Keys, DSA Electrical’s contracts director. “To resolve this energy wastage issue, around 25 per cent of the new CoreView fittings are left on all the time while 75 per cent is linked to movement sensors.” In other common areas such as stairwells, Philips Gondola 24W LED bulkhead luminaires have been used to provide high light levels while greatly reducing the installed electrical load. All emergency lighting in the common areas has also been upgraded to modern standards, and around the building perimeter Philips Securipack 10W LED bulkhead fittings have been used to improve both security and illumination.
Safe passage Extending its scope, LED technology has also been taken up by the emergency lighting sector, with some astonishing results. According to Peter Mazalon, managing director of Channel Safety Systems, this is all being driven by customer demand. “We receive many requests for LED emergency lighting, especially fully recessed mini downlighters,” he says. “There is an increasing choice that gives the end-user an advantage in terms of lower maintenance costs coupled with long operating life.” Hochiki Europe recently carried out a comparison of its own LED-based emergency lighting solution with a traditional system and identified all the costs associated with each on a 1,000 luminaire system used over a 10-year period. “We factored in maintenance labour, battery replacement, testing labour, recycling costs, energy use and initial capital outlay and found our system could save users £184,885, with a CO2 reduction of over 29.5 tonnes,” says Paul Adams, marketing manager.
Photo: Channel Safety Systems
Command and control While using energy efficient lighting technology is clearly beneficial from both financial and environmental perspectives, more can be done, particularly around demand reduction and the use of controls, to present further opportunities for contractors. When it comes to energy wastage, it only takes a drive around any commercial district to spot the main offenders: offices and industrial units left with lights blazing, either due to an oversight by an employee or as a “security measure”. According to research by Ex-Or, 85 per cent of companies waste money on unnecessary lighting, while 50 per cent leave lights on needlessly for up to eight hours a day. “Wasting so much money on lighting empty rooms is almost a criminal drain on resources,” says Jason Ng, Ex-Or’s marketing communications specialist. “And most companies are completely unaware of the issue.” Lighting controls have now been proven in numerous applications, in both newbuild and retrofit environments. But, according to Mike Brooks, marketing manager at CP Electronics, the main problem isn’t the deployment of the technology as much as its correct usage. “For some buildings a full lighting control system will be the sensible solution, while for others it might just be a case of using standalone passive infrared (PIR) detectors,” he says. “There are different systems available to suit every application and savings can only be achieved if the solution is the right one for the building.” Further improvements in efficiency and light output are already taking place, and developments such as organic LED (OLED) lighting mean that the way light is delivered is continuing to evolve. For electrical contractors able to advise and guide customers around the different options, the future could be very bright indeed.
www.electricalsafetyregister.com
25/09/2013 15:04