Green development
December 1st 2007

Managed lighting systems from Ex-Or Limited are putting the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) well along the road to BS EN ISO 14001, the standard for environmental responsibility and sustainability

The Ex-Or MLS Digital Managed Lighting System has been installed throughout SEEDA's five storey HQ building in Guildford to completely eliminate the unnecessary use of office lighting.Not only is this helping them meet their ISO 14001 environmental responsibilities, it has also meant that electricity consumption has been cut by up to 15 per cent - an annual energy cost saving of between £7,000 to £9,000.

Fiona Crann, head of facilities at SEEDA, said the government organisation started their route towards the ISO 14001 environmental management standard by looking at a Carbon Trust report stating that one of the greatest drains of energy in offices is the lighting. She commissioned ABS Consulting to survey their 37,000 sq ft building which is home to a workforce of more than 280.

"We asked ABS to recommend what practical and most efficient measures we could take to cut our excessive energy use which would give us the greatest return on investment. Eliminating wasteful use of lighting by automatic lighting management was the clear winner," said Ms Crann.

"The luminaires, installed when the building was constructed in 1989,were giving a much higher overall lighting level (600 - 650 lux) than was actually required. ABS recommended that efficient lighting control, combined with more up-todate light fittings, should bring this down to 400 lux. In addition, lighting control would ensure the lights only came on when they were needed." ABS specified Ex-Or for the lighting controls as they had previously used Ex-Or on various projects with excellent results. Five electrical contractors tendered for the installation and maintenance contract with Edmund Services Limited,Upminster being selected.

The work was conducted out of hours, over a six-week period, to minimise disruption.

The existing recessed 2 x 36W LG2 Cat 2 light fittings were replaced by 4 x 14W T5 ALD Lighting Fusion luminaires, and the Ex-Or MLS Digital Managed Lighting System was installed throughout all open plan offices, cellular offices and meeting rooms in the two wings that make up the building.

Ex-Or MLS automatically ensures that lights remain on only when needed, and automatically delivers light at optimum levels.

Communicating detectors share information on occupancy and light levels to provide lighting tailored to the needs of occupants – and in conveniently configured work zones.

The system automatically detects the presence of occupants, measures levels of ambient light and regulates luminaire output accordingly. In addition, it ensures lights in key circulation areas are kept on.

In some areas of the building, members of staff have their own hand-held remote control devices allowing them to easily and instantly adjust their own light levels if required for particular types of work.

Luminaires revert to the original settings when individual control is no longer required. Edmund Services' site engineer has a system programmer which he can use to permanently alter lighting patterns when working groups and desk workstations are modified.

Said Ms Crann:"The difference is incredible. Dimming and switching of the lights is indiscernible.No longer do the lights blaze endlessly and needlessly outside office hours just because people have forgotten to switch them off. But most interesting of all, by involving the staff in these changes, and demonstrating our commitment to energy saving and sustainability, they are now finding other ways themselves of saving energy - for example by checking their IT equipment and monitors are switched off when they have finished using them.

"Before and after metering measurements were taken in the first wing to be converted, and they showed an immediate cut in electricity use of 20 per cent.

Because each wing has different levels of natural light,we expect to achieve a building-wide saving of up to 15 per cent.This will give us a payback period of just over two years - a creditable return on investment indeed."

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