TAG | LED retrofit
Sainsbury’s is one of a number of companies to bid for an Electricity Demand Reduction grant, as Whitehall eyes ways to keep the lights on in winter.
The Government is investing nearly £5 million to encourage leading UK firms such as Sainsbury’s, to install energy efficient lighting.
The money is part of an attempt by Whitehall to reduce peak time energy levels as fears rise that the National Grid will not be able to cope with electricity demands this winter, leading to nationwide blackouts.
A string of leading companies, including British Gas, Sainsbury’s, Sony and BAE Systems, have bid for funding in the second auction of the Electricity Demand Reduction (EDR) pilot.
Plumbing firm Wolseley UK received an EDR grant of £100k and is using the money to kit out its distribution centre with upgraded LED lighting.
The company claims that the new fixtures will reduce its electricity demand by 236,000 kWh, which is enough energy to power more than 300 homes.
Wolseley worked closely with Cloudfm on the maintenance work, a partnership that has also led to Wolseley’s head office in Leamington Spa being awarded a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.
The scheme works by encouraging consumers to provide capacity in the form of megawatts to help the UK meet its energy efficiency targets and reduce pressure on the National Grid. The pilot also reduces the energy bills of those involved.
The Government had originally allotted £6 million to the pilot, but a lack of uptake meant that not all the money was allocated.
This is the second time that an EDR auction has failed to reach its target, the first, held last year, saw only £1.28m out of a total of £10 million being snapped up.
edr · electricity demand reduction · energy reduction · LED downlights · LED lamps · led lighting · led panels · LED retrofit · led tubes · Novel Energy Lighting
Since old fashioned incandescent and halogen bulbs are being banned by governments around the world, most home owners have had to consider low energy alternatives.
The favourite choice now is LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs, which are currently leading the field in terms of energy savings, product life and ease of use.
But how many of us understand the ways in which LED bulbs are different to incandescent models, and how to ensure that when we upgrade our lighting we actually make the right choices?
Let’s start with some basic facts about LED bulbs.
Basically, they offer a number of significant advantages to the obsolete incandescent types:
- Major power saving: LEDs use approximately five times less energy as incandescent bulbs. As an example, you can replace an old 40W reading light bulb with an 8W LED. And since LEDs offer a more focused light, the energy savings could be up to 90%, and you can therefore have a lower-wattage bulb.
- ‘Cleaner’ Product: LEDs are non-toxic, and in particular contain no mercury.
- Less Heat: Much less heat is produced by LED bulbs, in comparison with incandescent lights. That is especially important in Southern climates where air-conditioning is used.
- Longer Life: LED bulbs do not need to be replaced very often – they can last up to twenty years in regular use.
- Better Investment: They do cost more to buy, but when you consider their longer life and energy savings, they are a great investment.
So, when the time comes to replace old light bulbs, LEDs are the obvious choice, but how do we go about making the right selection for our home? There are so many styles, sizes, shapes and special formats on the market now, how do you know which is the right one?
Here are some tips to help you make the right decision…..
Consider how much brightness you need
Back in the bad old days, we all got used to measuring a light bulb’s brightness simply by its wattage. A 60 Watt bulb gave us an average light output for most domestic situations. However, wattage actually measures the amount of electrical energy a light bulb uses – a lot of which is given out as heat. Clearly, an LED will use fewer watts to generate the same amount of light.
To make sure that you get an LED with sufficient light output, you will need to get used to measuring brightness in lumens. An old fashioned 60-watt incandescent bulb generates about 800 lumens, so to get an equivalent, you need to look for an LED rated at 800 lumens of light output. A lot of LED packaging will tell you what wattage of incandescent bulb the lamp would be equivalent to.
What about quality of light?
Depending on where you are planning to use the LED bulbs, the quality of light may well be an important factor. Light quality is generally measured by CRI or Colour Rendering Index. This number indicates how accurately the bulb illuminates colours on a scale from 1 to 100. If you plan to use the lamp frequently – say in a living room – or it is going to be used in a prominent location like an entrance hall, CRI is a very important metric to consider. However, if it’s going to go into an airing cupboard or toilet, CRI isn’t as crucial. CRI ratings in excess of 85 and above are indications of very good colour rendering.
Are “warm” or “cool” light colours important?
There is a wide variety of LED bulbs available now, offering a range of light “colour temperatures” in Degrees Kelvin, or simply “K”. How do you know what colour temperature works for you? Colour temperatures with high K ratings, 6,000 or more, are classified as ‘cool’ colours, while those with lower K ratings, 3,500 or less, are classified as ‘warm.’ You will find most retailers referring to their products as cool white and warm white LED Bulbs.
Warm white bears a close resemblance to the light produced by halogens and incandescent bulbs. It is soft, easy on the eyes and promotes a comfortable and domestic aesthetic. As a rule of thumb, warm white bulbs should be used in ‘habitat’ spaces, such as living rooms, hallways and bedrooms, and as general illumination. In contrast, cool white is a very bright, sharp white light; less suitable for domestic spaces where the brightness of the light can be too harsh and even create a clinical effect.
What shape or type of LED bulb do you need?
LEDs now come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and will be suitable for replacing just about any kind of incandescent light bulb. You will now find LED globe light bulbs, chandelier light bulbs, and reflector light bulbs – along with lots of newly manufactured shades, lamps and fixings that have them built-in.
The traditional “light bulb” shapes are designed to give an all-round source of light, for instance in a table lamp or ceiling fitting, and are known as “omni-directional”. Reflector types are designed to give light off in one direction, so they’re best for overhead lighting, spotlights, and display lighting.
How about replacing incandescent bulbs in dimming systems?
Unfortunately, many old incandescent dimmers aren’t fully compatible with LED lighting, so you need to be careful when considering dimming. Many of the newer types of LED light bulb do have dimming capabilities – a great option if you want to save even more energy and control the room’s ambient environment. But you may need to invest in an LED-specific dimmer. If you’re looking for a dimmable LED, carefully check the specification on the bulb’s packaging and make sure you control it with a compatible dimmer.
Some don’t like it hot!
LED based light bulbs work best when they are kept cool. If you use an LED outdoors in winter or inside a refrigerator, it will actually last longer. However, excessive heat can cause problems, particularly as LEDs exposed to extreme heat may degrade more quickly over time. So, if you plan to use them in an area that can get hot (like in overhead recessed spotlights) it would be better to invest in high-temperature specification types which use an advanced cooling system – like the types produced by Megaman.
And finally, how can you actually get the ball rolling to take advantage of LED technology in your home?
Right at the beginning it takes a little research effort – initially you need to go round your home and make a note of all the bulbs you are currently using – including wattage (60W, 100W etc.), type of fixture (screw, bayonet etc.), bulb type (reflector, standard, golf ball, etc.) size and colour (warm, cool, etc.). Also approximately how much usage each bulb gets.
Next you need to figure out the type of LED bulb which can be used to replace each incandescent type in terms of lumens, shape, size and fixture. Check out dimming requirements carefully, then make a comprehensive list and check prices on the Internet or through lighting retail outlets.
All that’s needed then is to make the investment, change the bulbs, and start making real savings on your electricity bill!
Visit www.novelenergylighting.com to explore the LED options available at great prices!
led GU10 · LED lamps · led lighting · led mr16 · led project · LED retrofit · led tube · Megaman LED · Novel Energy Lighting
In 2015 the number of lamps being recycled leapt by 44 per cent while luminaires were up 4.4 per cent. Commenting on the news, Nigel Harvey, CEO of specialist lighting WEEE compliance scheme Recolight, said: ‘It is particularly pleasing to see that the 2015 recycling rate bounced back up from 2014. This is probably due, in part, to the recycling of fluorescent waste resulting from major LED integrated luminaire roll outs in business premises across the UK. The lamp recycling rate from 2013 to 2014 saw a drop when, for the first time, the data included LED lamps as well as Gas Discharge Lamps. With very large quantities of LEDs being sold – but very few being returned as WEEE, the inclusion of LEDs inevitably reduced the rate.’
Turning to the luminaire recycling rate, he added ‘The luminaire recycling rate has increased from 2014 to 2015. However, the tonnage of luminaires collected in 2015 is only 5 per cent higher than in 2014. The rate increase is therefore primarily due to the 12.7 per cent reduction in the tonnage of luminaires reported as put on the market. This reduction is likely to be a result of dual use classification, which means that any luminaires that could be used by consumers are now out of scope of the WEEE Regulations.’
- The Environment Agency data also reveals that membership of Recolight has increased more than any other UK scheme. The number of members increased by 23 producers between the end of 2014, and the beginning of 2016. That is also Recolight’s biggest annual increase recorded since the scheme was established in 2007.
Visit Novel Energy Lighting to explore LED retrofit lamps and tubes for your project. Out with the old, in with the new!
fluorescent tubes · led bulbs · LED lamps · led lighting · LED retrofit · led tubes · Novel Energy Lighting · recolight · tube recycling
Coming to a Woolworths car park near you: the retailer is planning to roll out its LED lighting scheme to other stores following the massive energy savings it achieved in Coorparoo.
LUX reports: Compared to other conventional lighting solutions, T5 is still seen by some as too efficient for the facilities team to justify upgrading to an LED lighting system. But combined with controls, even the leap from T5 fluorescent lighting to LED can yield significant savings.
Woolworths is a case in point; the retailer’s branch in the South Eastern Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo managed to save 77 per cent energy in its car park area with LEDs and occupation sensors, and earned a Peak Load Reduction Reward for its efforts.
One of the reasons the management was looking for a new solution was the amount of hours the light was on in the car park. The T5 fittings, which had an average life span of two years, were on all day and night, with no control system in place.
The entry to the car part was lit with twin 28W T5 fittings which had been retrofitted in 2012.
When most of the T5s predictably started to fail at the same time, James Dwyer of Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), which has a national building management contract for Shopping Centres Australia’s 77 retail assets, investigated lighting upgrade options. Dwyer was looking for a solution that would last longer than the T5s and save Woolworths the costs of frequent lamp replacements and maintenance.
The JLL team had recently completed a fire stair and car park lighting upgrade at CP1, a commercial office tower in Brisbane, where LEDs were installed. The positive feedback from the building manager there helped convince Shopping Centres Australia, the owners of Woolworths, that LED was the way forward.
Lighting manufacturer Enlighten helped Dwyer complete an unbudgeted capital expense application and detailed return on investment projection, which ‘impressed the owners and ensured that my application was approved,’ Dwyer said.
Dwyer opted for Enlighten’s Chameleon light fitting, which is built for long-lit areas such as fire stairs, car parks and back of house areas.
No more wasted light
Most of the new LED fittings will only be on when needed, thanks to an in-built motion sensor which instantly switches the light from the standby 8W light output to the full 35W output for a set period of time which can vary between 15 seconds and five minutes. When the set time ends, the light output returns to standby mode.
A 90W 2 module Cetus LED low bay light from Enlighten was installed in the car park entry. This fitting actually represented a net increase in energy consumption compared to the existing T5 fixture (68W including ballast), but it was necessary to improve the light levels in this area.
All lights were replaced on a one for one basis, with each parking bays having a standard 12 chip bulk head installed. The fittings lighting the driveways are permanently on, and the ones approaching a turn have side-emitting optical lenses to ensure good visibility.
An extra incentive
Coorparoo’s Woolworths is located in an area with electricity supply constraints, which means it qualified for a Peak Load Reduction Reward. Energy-saving scheme Energex rewards businesses within the area that contribute to reducing demand on the network during peak periods by replacing lighting with more energy efficient lighting. The reward payment given to Woolworths is estimated to be $500 for this upgrade.
The savings in numbers
The new LED lighting will save an estimated 77per cent energy in the car park area, which equates to 30,504 kWh per year. The project capital cost was $21,250 after the incentive payment, with a project payback calculation from energy and maintenance savings of 2.7 years.
According to Dwyer, the project has been well received. ‘The Chamaeleon fitting is perfectly suited to our undercover car park operation and I have received an immense amount of positive feedback from the tenants,’ he said.
Dwyer is planning to retrofit another shopping centre’s undercover carpark lighting with in early 2015.
Novel Energy Lighting specialises in
LED Tubes, and
LED IP65 fittings for business lighting retrofits. Speak to us today to understand the energy savings and
explore financing which can be repaid through the energy cost savings.
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Lux Imagines: What would happen if all the fittings in Britain’s hotel bedrooms were replaced with LEDs? And what if we add all the corridors and toilets to the equation? Lux‘s lighting economist, Dave Tilley, has done just that in this thought-provoking calculation based on hotel industry information and 2015 projections.
First, Tilley considered changing eight incandescent and halogen lamps to LED in every one of the UK’s 615,000 hotel bedrooms – and then a complete changeover including common areas in 31,000 hotels.
Let’s see what happens:
Conclusion
The results are staggering: £131 million ($199 million) and 677,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved if Britain’s hotels changed their bedroom, corridor and toilet lights to LED.
But for many businesses, the capital investment needed to do this is still considered a barrier, even when it might pay for itself in a year or less.
The scale of the potential savings – and their contribution to CO2 reduction targets – should capture the imagination of the hotel industry. But government should also be more involved in encouraging better lighting, if it is serious about lowering the country’s energy consumption.
Novel Energy Lighting has supplied LED lighting to many hotels in the UK, and can support you in your hotel retrofit. We also offer
LED lighting finance through our partners at Lombard Capital to eliminate the capital barrier, and allow you to pay for your upgrade from the energy savings alone! Visit us to discuss the opportunity in more detail, or call: 0208-540-8287
energy efficient lighting · hotel led · hotel lighting · led financing · led lighting · LED retrofit · led upgrade · Novel Energy Lighting
STARQUALITY
LUX magazine reports. First impressions count at one of London’s top music venues. Robert Bain reports. The names of London’s major theatres and concert halls have become iconic, and few more so than the Hammersmith Apollo.
The Apollo first opened as the Gaumont Palace cinema in 1932, with a huge seating capacity of over 3,000, and lavish front-of-house facilities including a large first floor restaurant.
In the 1960s it was renamed the Hammersmith Odeon (a name by which many still know the venue), and became a concert hall. The list of musicians to have graced the stage reads like a who’s who of the past half century of popular music.
FADED LUSTRE
But like many such venues, the once opulent Apollo has not had the best of care over the years. As its use evolved from swish cinema to sweaty rock n’ roll venue, the Apollo’s lustre faded.
Now the Grade II listed building is in the midst of a rebirth.
When Kate Bush made her comeback this August after a 35-year hiatus, she did it at the Apollo, and the place looked better than ever.
Owners AEG Live and Eventim have embarked on a major refurbishment. The façade and front-of-house areas have already had their former glory restored, with the latest technology achieving effects not possible before, and bringing the best out of the building’s architecture. Next up will be the auditorium, which is set to be revamped next year.
THE NEW OLD FASHIONED WAY
The Apollo wanted to use fittings that matched the originals that were installed years ago – but not all of them could be saved or converted to use new light sources. Some were fitted with modern light sources, while others were recreated completely, based on photos.
The new lighting was designed by James Morse Lighting Design, with products supplied by Great British Lighting, Philips Color Kinetics, LightGraphix, Concord, Crescent, Radiant, Applelec and controls specialist Pharos
apollo hammersmith · LED downlights · led effects · led GU10 · LED lamps · led lighting · LED retrofit · led strip · led tubes · Novel Energy Lighting
14 JULY 2014
New lighting at several London Underground stations that are currently being redeveloped will be all-LED.
Bob Benn, stations engineering manager for London Underground, told the Lighting for Rail conference that stations including Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street and Victoria, will get 100 per cent LED lighting when the work is completed.
Lighting for the stations was initially designed several years ago as part of the redevelopment plans, with fluorescent products in mind. But lighting teams have managed to get specifications updated to take advantage of newer technology.
‘We were basically dealing with an obsolete design,’ said Benn. ‘We’ve managed to change it all to LED lighting, but that’s been a major challenge in London Underground in order to get that through the system.’
Changing the specification to LED means London Underground will reap significant energy and maintenance savings, despite a higher upfront cost. The high cost of conducting maintenance in busy and hard-to-access underground stations means long-lasting products pay for themselves quickly. An earlier project to replace T8 lamps in a number of London Underground stations with LED tubes has saved millions of pounds in maintenance costs, paying for itself in less than 18 months.
‘From the point of view of whole-life cost, we’re very aware of the reduced maintenance of new technology,’ said Benn.
An ongoing programme of station improvements is taking place all over the Tube, and many stations are being upgraded to prepare for the completion of Crossrail.
Work at Bond Street is due to be finished by 2017, while work at Victoria and Tottenham Court Road will go on until 2018.
led lighting · led rail · LED retrofit · led underground · Novel Energy Lighting · station upgrade
Row looms over delay in halogen lamp ban
A row is brewing among lamp makers over the possible postponement of the ban of halogen lamp formats.
Numerous halogen sources, including low-voltage MR16, G9 and mains GU10, are due to be banned in 2016 as part of the European Commission’s DIM regulations.
But it’s looking increasingly likely that the scheduled phase-out of the lamps will be delayed until at least 2018 because it’s unlikely that low-cost LED replacements will be ready in time.
It’s almost certain that G9s will be allowed to remain on the market as LED lamp makers have struggled to replicate this format.
The phase-out of MR16 is also problematic because if low-cost, quality LED alternatives are not available, the only substitute are versions with an infrared coating (IRC). This opens up the possibility that the US manufacturer which owns the patent for the IRC process could be gifted a monopoly on the market.
‘The European Commission is terrified of creating black holes [of missing lamp formats] in the market as it will fuel anti-EU sentiment and play well in the Eurosceptic press,’ said one source. ‘The format that everyone gets worked up about is MR16 but the IRC patent issue is a massive spanner in the works.’
Major manufacturers of LED lamps are unhappy with the growing pressure for a delay in the halogen ban. ‘It looks like the goalposts are being moved,’ said Fred Bass, managing director of Neonlite International, owner of the Megaman brand. ‘In my view, it’s not sensible to push back the date of the final ban on mains voltage halogen lamps by a further two years and leave these high energy lamps on the market for a more than four years from today.
‘From a technological point of view, LED lighting technology is progressing so rapidly, surely it makes more sense to make decisions on the extension of the halogens phase-out deadline much closer to the ban’s implementation, rather than now?
‘This would be more realistic given the pace of change in this technology at present and would also be in line with the precedent set in lighting regulation 1194/2012, which cites the need for a review of the phase-out ‘based on affordability issues’ that is allowed up to a year before its implementation.
‘In addition, I feel that the decision to extend the phase out to over four years from now, when the pace of change in LEDs is so fast at this time, will result in the loss of an opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. As well as impacting our environment negatively, this revision sends the wrong message.’
energy efficient lighting · halogen phase-out · halogens · led bulb · led GU10 · LED lamps · led lighting · led mr16 · led replacement · LED retrofit · Novel Energy Lighting
Terry Anderson
Building manager, Northamptonshire Police
We’re starting to introduce LEDs
We’ve used LEDs when we’ve done office refurbishments. We’ve gone from individual cellular offices to open-plan offices at the force headquarters in Northampton. We’ve done this primarily to house more people. And when we’ve done this we’ve converted the old T5s and T8s to LED.
I’ve also used them outside under walkways. I’ve recently completed a project where I’ve replaced a load of SON 80s with LED spotlights on a building for general lighting around our firearms range. That’s probably the most adventurous project I’ve attempted with the police force. They’re very old school.
Initial installations have been successful
LEDs are reducing our energy consumption. Most of our buildings are old, and so the Display Energy Certificates (DEC) are very low. The energy being used against the floor area of the building doesn’t quite work out, and it drags our DECs down.
By changing as many of the old lights to LED as we can, we’re reducing our energy consumption and cutting down on maintenance. The reason we’re doing the upgrades is for long-term cost saving.
The force isn’t as tech-savvy as I’d like
I think it’s getting there, but I think we as a force have to catch up, which we are with the new buildings. I’ve done one complete station in Rushdon with LED, a small one. We also opened a new building about 18 months ago that has a full control system everywhere and energy-efficient lighting, but they’re not LED fittings.
We used PL36s which are low energy and high frequency but not as efficient as LEDs. We have controls on the lights but the controls aren’t yet hooked up to the building management system. But now, any new building we do will have lighting controls.
Safety and security comes first
The work I do is quite unique, it’s different from a normal property manager because of the environment that I work in. I did one complete station with LED. We have to think about safety, and be sure before we install anything. You can’t have lights going on and off in custody areas, and we have to find different ways of making lights that have to be on all the time more efficient.
Cost has to be taken into account
Everything is financially driven, especially with budgets being cut the way they are. It constricts us considerably, but now that trials have been successful, it’s easier to put a case forward. Providing it’s not one of these projects where it’s given to a contractor and they’re asked to design and supply, we’ll have it done the way we want it – if we’ve got any input – and that means getting the best value for the public’s money.
I’m governed a lot by cost. I’m spending your money, I’m spending my money, I’m spending everybody’s money, so I’ve got to get the best value for the pound, and that’s what I’m looking for all the time. Value and reliability are important. If one lamp was £2 and one was £2.50 and I knew the more expensive one was better, I’d invest in that one.
Controls didn’t work well for us at first
We introduced controls a few years ago, primarily in corridors. Our old property manager was a bit old school. I wanted to put them in general public areas like corridors and toilets, but he wouldn’t let me put them in toilets. The main problem we had with those controls was that the old style lighting didn’t react fast enough if there was an emergency, if there’s a policeman running through the corridor because an alarm has sounded in the cells.
Lighting for the police has some unique requirements
The lighting inside the firing arms range is controlled by the building management system and is used to create different scenarios. You can make the lights flash on and off, and all sorts of strange things happen with the lighting to simulate different training environments. The day will come when we turn ordinary fluorescents to LED, but for the moment, we’re leaving that side of the business alone.
THE DETAILS
Terry Anderson manages energy across Northamptonshire Police, which employs 1,200 police officers and more than 1,000 other staff. The police authority has set a target of reducing the consumption of gas and electricity by five per cent year on year, and
Anderson works with new lighting technology to achieve this goal. With a large operational fleet of 414 vehicles, and a multitude of buildings, the authority has a large carbon footprint to cut down.
A policy of increasing the use of diesel has helped to cut down on carbon emissions, and now the authority is looking to achieve similar reductions in its buildings, including its headquarters (pictured).
energy efficient lighting · energy saving · led bulbs · led financing · led GU10 · led lighting · LED retrofit · led tubes · Novel Energy Lighting · police station lighting
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