Reducing the financial burden of lighting

ONE OF Europe's largest bedroom furniture manufacturers, rauch Möbelwerke, needed to replace the outdated lighting system at its company's headquarters in Freudenberg, Germany.

Built in the early 1970s, the lighting system at the site was incurring enormous energy and maintenance costs. The company required a solution to reduce operating costs and its carbon footprint.  

As a full-service provider, TRILUX retrofitted the entire site with innovative LED solutions. In close collaboration with raunch, TRILUX developed a customised financing concept. After the retrofit, the energy costs for lighting will fall by approximately €74,000 per month, and CO2 emissions will be reduced by 2,200 tons per year.

Identifying the ideal lighting solution 

Finding the right lighting solution for the five production halls was challenging. These spaces house vast hall aisles in which huge machines, called all-rounders, perform all the woodworking, such as sawing, milling, drilling, and gluing, creating significant air pollution. 

The perfect luminaire for these demanding environments is TRILUX's E-Line NEXT LED. Lighting technology and protection class of the highly versatile light strip are precisely adapted to any application; for example, there is an IP64 solution with lumen packages between 7000 and 9000 lumens for production areas.

To maximise efficiency and transparency, the continuous rows are networked with TRILUX's LiveLink Premium lighting management system and combined with sensors for presence and daylight detection. This enables the luminaires to be monitored online via a cloud interface and the TRILUX Monitoring Services. 

Creavo LED recessed ceiling luminaires and the Finea LED light channel have been used in the office and administration areas. Looking outside the facility, in the delivery zone, rauch relies on the Jovie LED post-top luminaire. In the covered loading zones, powerful Mirona Fit LED high-bay luminaires provide excellent, energy-efficient light and greater safety.

Buying vs renting

After a comprehensive energy audit, it was clear that high energy savings could be realised by refurbishing with a controlled TRILUX LED solution. However, the question of the perfect financing solution had to be defined. Four options were discussed in detail, including balance sheet-neutral financing with the TRILUX Light as a Service rental model.

Here, the customer receives state-of-the-art lighting for a monthly rental cost, off-balance sheet and without own investment - TRILUX, as a full-service partner, takes responsibility for all tasks such as installing and maintaining the system. 

After extensive calculations and objective comparison of the various financing models, rauch opted for a customised purchase option - among other things - to take advantage of government subsidies for Energy-Efficient Buildings BEG for LED transformation. As rauch wished to place the operation and maintenance of the system in professional hands, the deal was combined with a five-year service contract from TRILUX.

Going forward, rauch plans to use this project as a blueprint for refurbishing other locations. Which TRILUX solutions and financing model rauch will opt for on the following projects will be decided appropriately as part of individual project planning.

Leighton James is product and marketing director at TRILUX

For more information: 

www.trilux.com/gb

Tel: 01245 463 463