GreenLed - Low Energy, LED, Commercial Lighting Systems in UK

Case Studies

HAYMARKET MEDIA

In early 2008 we were approached by London-based publishing house Haymarket Media Group who were looking to take further steps to increase their energy efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint and significantly cut energy costs.

In 2005 Haymarket became the first major publisher to attain ISO 14001 accreditation. The company is committed to reducing its impact on the environment and continues to implement a series of environmental initiatives across its buildings.

After investigating with us our range of sustainable LED lighting, Haymarket replaced their existing halogen lights with our Antares lamps and added PIRs in the corridors, lavatories and recreation zones in their Teddington office. Immediately they decreased energy use in these areas by 90% and reduced their footprint by 74 carbon tonnes p.a., whilst saving themselves in excess of £100k in electricity costs over the next 10 years.

Haymarket’s Sustainability Manager, Nathan McLean, working with us on a design scheme to install over 500 LED lamps across its key commercial premises, said: “We explored a number of lighting options and settled on Greenled LEDs because they provide the right amount of light – much more light than we could find from other LEDs – and offer excellent environmental benefits. These LEDs are some of the best available. Greenled’s Antares range uses 45 watts less energy per hour than our existing halogen down-lighters and, while there is a marginal reduction in the amount of light emitted, they have proved to be very effective in the areas in which we are using them. An additional benefit is that the new lights continue to be complimented by Haymarket staff.”

“This is exactly what we want to hear” says James Millar, Greenled’s MD. “Lighting quality is no longer an issue. There are those who notice the difference and are impressed by the energy savings, and there are those who don’t notice the change at all. I’d have to say that the latter is a much greater compliment, as it confirms that the Greenled LED is comparable to existing lighting technologies. Congratulations to Haymarket Media for proving that leading businesses can find a quick and easy route to reducing their energy costs and carbon emissions.”

BLUNSDON HOUSE HOTEL – successful major LED re-fit

In September 2007, Greenled approached the management of Blunsdon House Hotel, a 4 star premier Best Western hotel on the outskirts of Swindon in Wiltshire, with a proposition to reduce energy by installing Greenled’s own Antares downlights in place of the standard halogen downlighters that were installed at the time. Excited by the prospect of the savings in energy useage and in terms of labour and maintenance costs, the idea was championed by Steve Day, the Facilities Manager and his team who put the proposition to the hotel owner, John Clifford. Following a further presentation by the Greenled team which set out the full savings potential, an area of the hotel annexe (comprising the 17 ground floor bedrooms, corridors and a beauty parlour) was identified as a suitable area for a trial.

Energy consumption within this area was measured over a month-long period while the halogens were still installed. At the end of the month 192 of the original 35W halogens in the bedrooms, bathrooms and up and down the corridors were replaced with Greenled 4W Antares and the energy consumption was re-measured over the following month. Taking the variation in occupancy rates into account, the hotel immediately saw energy consumption reduce by 75% in this annexe area. If rolled out throughout the whole hotel complex, the management would see a total running cost saving of more than £ 12 per lamp per year and an overall energy saving of £ 16,000 pa.

Customers and members of staff, despite being prompted, noticed no differences in the light levels, light colour or light intensity during this period. The only comment was from the head of Steve Day’s operations team, who wondered whether his job was still safe. He was not required to change any bulbs on that floor during the month long period – something that he had never encountered previously. Greenled Antares lamps are currently being rolled out throughout the rest of the hotel area by area.

LIGHTING ASSOCIATION – 94% energy reductions

In January 2008, Greenled conducted an energy consumption analysis carried out by Steve Poole, senior Lab Manager at the laboratories of The Lighting Association, the leading trade organisation for the UK lighting sector. The test consisted of measuring the energy consumed by 20 Greenled 4W Antares warm white downlighter LED lamps switched on for a full week (172 hours) as compared to the energy consumed by 20 standard 35W warm white halogen down-lighter lamps from a well-known European manufacturing company, over that same period.

Theoretically the Greenled downlighters (4W) should run off 89% of the energy required to run the halogens (35W). The results were overwhelming. The analysis demonstrated that the total energy consumed by the Greenled Antares downlighters during that period was 7.33 kWh; while the energy consumed by the halogen downlighters was 130.82 kWh. The Greenled lights actually consumed 94% less electricity than the halogens over this seven-day period.

The tests proved conclusively the reason for this positive discrepancy. Under formal test conditions, it was demonstrated that the Greenled 4W Antares GU10 downlighters actually drew only 3.7W each whilst the well-known branded halogen downlighters, clearly specified as 35W, actually drew 36.6W each. Although minor, these individual differences in wattage resulted in a significant extra saving in favour of the Greenled downlighter lamps.

BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT
– showing the way forward

In May 2008, the new Visitor’s Centre at the Building Research Establishment (BRE)’s revitalised Innovation Park outside Watford was officially opened by Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board. The Visitor’s Centre is a showcase of a range of innovative designs and technologies for the building industry.

The building itself is an innovative re-working of an earlier house built there by Hanson in 2003 and now embraces all notions of sustainability including low-energy lighting. Greenled, working alongside the BRE, has supplied all the lights within the Visitors Centre – which is open to individuals and organisations for conferences and product launches. The Park has already attracted tens of thousands of visitors and formed the centrepiece for the OFFSITE 2007 exhibition where the first zero carbon house was unveiled.

“It has been a stimulating and exciting opportunity for us at Greenled to work with some of the most advanced technologies in building at the moment. We hope that our sustainable lighting systems clearly demonstrate the advanced state we have already reached with LED lighting and that it will help open the eyes of the whole building sector towards a wider understanding of the cost-saving and carbon reduction opportunities it offers” said James Millar “The whole of the main conference and demonstration area of the Visitor’s Centre, for example, is now lit using 165 Watts of energy, less than two standard bulbs worth – helping to reduce the electricity consumed by the lighting within the building by over 70%.”

August 2008

GREENLED Case Studies

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