Making light work 07 June 2011

There's more to cutting lighting energy costs and carbon emissions than the luminary technologies themselves. Brian Tinham reports

Lighting often accounts for a substantial proportion of a plant's electricity costs, and is one of easiest and fastest payback routes to energy savings. However, it is also frequently overlooked, despite the existence of low-power retrofit technologies that eliminate the time and expense associated with 'rip and replace'-projects.

That said, there's more to lighting improvement projects than simply choosing the latest low energy luminary technology to cut electricity costs and carbon emissions, important though each of these goals remains. Other considerations for plant engineers should include the new units' maintenance requirements, their environmental compatibility, warm-up times, lux output, light quality – and also what might be achieved by investing in additional peripheral equipment for the facility.

Maintenance, repair and overhaul equipment and services firm Brammer, for example, chose energy-efficient Virolux-HLF high bay lighting for its automated National Distribution Centre in Wolverhampton. However, the project team also installed occupancy sensors, to prevent lights being left on unnecessarily, and a system that 'harvests' daylight, using specially engineered reflectors, to maximise lighting levels and minimise energy consumption.

The luminaries themselves achieve what's described as "significant" energy savings, compared to conventional lighting solutions, such as metal halide and standard fluorescents – but we're not talking about LEDs. In fact, they harness a 4 x 55W compact fluorescent arrangement, and the expectation is a saving of almost £18,000 in electricity costs in the first year alone, with similar savings set to follow. That equates to annual CO2 emissions savings of 66.2 tonnes. Incidentally, the plant also reports that its new lighting requires no warm-up time, and points to additional benefits such as increased lamp life and reduced maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, temperature control specialist 1COLD did select LED high bay lighting for a new beer keg store at logistics specialist Tradeteam's food and drink distribution centre in Enfield. With Tradeteam being part of DHL, 1COLD had to satisfy that company's green agenda, and hence the move to long-life, low maintenance 100W LED lighting, supplied by Surrey-based LED Eco Lights.

Simon Gumery, operations director at 1COLD, explains that the retrofit LED system typically consumes around 75% less energy than metal halide equivalents, with no reduction in lux levels, and adds that their lifespan is between five and 10 times better – up to 50,000 hours. He also points to the fact that they switch on instantly and can simply be plugged into existing fittings (like replacing a bulb), so reducing installation costs.

However, Gumery additionally observes that providing internal lighting in potentially harsh environments, where temperature has to be strictly controlled, can be a challenge. LED lighting, he says, offers a better quality of light than traditional gas discharge lamps, with good colour-rendering, unlike some other eco-friendly alternatives. And the system is more reliable – the reason being that LED lamps have no starter or control gear, making them very low-maintenance.

"Choosing the LED Eco Lights option for this installation was not a difficult decision," says Gumery. "Their green credentials were obviously important to fit both the client's philosophy and our own. But it was clear from our research that they were also more efficient and more reliable than the existing lamps, as well as providing a better quality of light." He now expects the initial investment to be recouped within 12 months.

One more point: some of these projects attract interest free loans from the Carbon Trust. Scania dealer TruckEast, for example, which offers truck servicing, repairs and maintenance in the east of England, used Vita Energia to survey its Wellingborough facility for a lighting energy carbon reduction project. TruckEast site manager Graham Broughton reports that initially a test light strip was set up, following which, the mostly retrofit system was rolled out site-wide across five acres, including the firm's 14-bay workshop, body shop and offices.

"Initially I was quite sceptical, but the implementation proved very smooth, and the results are extremely satisfactory," comments Broughton. "Not only are we saving CO2 and cost, but the quality of light has also improved. The early indications are good, and we're now looking into implementing the solution on other sites, if the result after 12 months is as positive as it looks at the moment."

He reckons the system is now saving just over £20,000 and 40 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. And, with an interest free loan from the Carbon Trust, payback will be just 13 months.

Brian Tinham

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