Ex-or has just installed an energy-saving automatic lighting control system at the London offices of the Carbon Trust, an independent company set up by the Government to help the UK meet its climate change obligations.
Open plan office areas, smaller cellular offices and meeting rooms on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of the building were fitted with Ex-or’s LightSpot System, which switches lights on and off by monitoring the presence of occupants and measuring the amount of natural light available. Around the perimeter of the open plan area, the lights remain off when daylight levels are sufficiently high, while in irregularly-used meeting rooms, lights are automatically switched off when LightSpot detects the rooms are no longer occupied.
The Carbon Trust decided to install lighting controls to improve the energy efficiency of its offices and cut carbon emissions. Lighting can account for up to half of a commercial building’s electricity use and with electricity usually accounting for half of the total energy bill, there is potential to save 25 percent of the entire electricity load.
Peter Hambly, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Carbon Trust, said: “We do exactly what all small and medium sized enterprises can do to cut carbon emissions. We have an environmental policy and an action plan, where we look at and review all our systems as a business, to find ways of becoming more energy efficient.
“Automatic lighting control can dramatically cut the unnecessary use of lighting. We estimate that, following this installation, we are cutting the amount of electricity used by at least a quarter. It also helps create a better working environment for us, as it means everyone is working in the correct levels of light.”
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There is an obvious need for the industry to be more energy efficient and pay more attention to the ways in which energy is both used and wasted. Do you think we have the products on the market to meet our needs?
