Indoor lighting costs: All under control?

Many businesses and warehouse facilities operate from buildings more than 20 years old – built when energy efficiency was not seen as a main consideration. As a typical warehouse or industrial facility may have hundreds or even thousands of lighting fixtures, often over lit for the actual plant requirements, lighting is one area in which significant savings can be achieved. 

Traditional light source technology, as used in many plants, warehouses and industrial environments, is either inefficient or difficult to control. The early generation lighting controls, such as DALI and Analogue 1-10V, can be effective in reducing energy consumption, however the costs associated with employing specialists to programme the hardware has made them difficult to commission. In addition, the level of improved efficiency is hard to evaluate as post-installation monitoring is non-existent making the case for re-commissioning, often necessary to maximise efficiency, problematic.

LED lighting, with its intrinsic control and flexibility, offers opportunities for energy savings as well as an enhanced role for new generation lighting control systems. Being easy to dim and completely switchable, LED lighting is seen as the system of choice to replace older generation halogen, fluorescent and metal halide lighting. Until recently the cost of re-wiring and disruption to trade was perceived as prohibitive to the installation of such a system.

However many of the challenges have now been met with the development of wireless networked control systems. These new generation systems eliminate the need for re-wiring in a retrofit installation, allowing for planned upgrades to LED technology to incorporate a compatible wireless control system. The adoption of open protocols also offers the exciting possibility of multiple-site or multiple building control from a single hub.

Savings have already been made through similar lighting control technology in the outdoor lighting market. LeafNut, for example, an advanced wireless control, management and reporting system for outdoor lighting, has proved very successful with local authorities making savings on their energy and maintenance costs. As demands are placed on large organisations to deliver energy savings and to make reductions of 80% in their CO2 emissions, the benefits of saving 100kg of carbon per street light per year, which translates into savings of up to £46 for each light annually; cannot be underestimated. 

The reduction in energy consumption in the outdoor market is impressive but will pale in comparison when the potential for savings in the indoor lighting market is realised. Of all the controllable lighting sold in Europe today, 75% is not being controlled and 33% of office electricity consumption in the UK is used by lighting, the highest single contributor, making lighting control the obvious area to investigate to maximise energy savings. 

Businesses can now take advantage of the most recent technological developments to reap the benefits associated with the installation of a completely customisable new generation lighting control system. By implementing multiple strategies to maximise energy efficiencies, including daylight harvesting, dimming, time scheduling, load shedding and scene setting, the new generation indoor control systems offer users a sophisticated multi-faceted solution that can be adapted to any situation. 

Operators are able to monitor energy outputs, typically at 30min intervals, to determine energy consumption, presence of faults and percentage of dimming, to ensure the optimisation of the system. Engineers can remotely monitor the system using a laptop, tablet or smartphone, to identify any problems without having to investigate the wiring infrastructure, reducing maintenance costs considerably. 

New generation lighting monitoring and control systems have already made their mark in the outdoor lighting market but the potential for energy savings is even greater in the indoor market.

Harvard Engineering will launch its indoor wireless control and monitoring system for indoor lighting – EyeNut – at LuxLive in November.