With energy bills increasing, how can you conserve energy with smarter, more efficient lighting?
During the autumn and winter months we all become more dependent on artificial lighting, it is therefore critical to ensure that it is used as sparingly as possible and that it operates with the minimum of energy use. First and foremost, it is important to ensure that lighting has been upgraded to a high-quality LED product which has efficiency, longevity and serviceability at the forefront of its design. Many low cost LED solutions may provide a quick energy saving at low cost, but poor service life, relatively poor efficiency and an inability to replace components at end of life may make these a more costly solution when the total lifetime cost is considered.
With the correct luminaire in place, effective controls are the next step to reducing energy consumption and ongoing operating costs. Both presence detection and daylight regulation sensors will minimise the operational hours of your lighting installation, but ought to be combined with a wireless solution that ensures luminaires can be triggered in groups so as not to compromise the environment for building users. Wireless systems can be easily installed without the expense of installing DALI wiring or infrastructure and can be easily regrouped and adjusted as the layout and use of areas change.
They can also be combined with a range of user controls such as switches, remote controls or mobile apps that allow users to tailor the lighting to their needs. To further minimise ongoing costs, such wireless systems can be combined with centrally reporting systems allowing building managers to substantially reduce their maintenance costs. Emergency testing can be automated, and the results stored centrally whilst luminaire and battery failures can be monitored and repaired quickly and easily at a single visit as the location and luminaire type is automatically recorded through the wireless system. Such systems can also be used to monitor both energy consumption and levels of occupancy across an installation, allowing areas of under-utilisation or excessive energy consumption to be identified and addressed.
Whilst reduction of energy and maintenance costs typically requires up-front investment, when carefully considered with the correct luminaire and controls solution this can often provide a rapid return for building owners.
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