Lighting Fittings, Lighting Systems and Lighting System Controls are an approved Green Deal measure under the Building Services Electrical category.
What are Lighting Fittings, Lighting Systems and Lighting System Controls?
If a traditional light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb of the same brightness, around £3 per year can be saved.
If a 50W halogen downlighter with a 6W LED, a saving of around £4 a year could be saved.
Many homes today use a mixture of standard light fittings and halogen downlighters or spotlights (mainly in kitchens and bathrooms). There are low energy alternatives for both these types of light:
- Compact fluorescents (CFLs) – these are what most people think of as an energy efficient light bulb. A cost effective option for most general lighting purposes and now widely available
- LEDs – even more efficient and the ideal replacement for halogen downlighters. They are more expensive than CFLs, however more money will be saved in the long term
Of course, the easiest way to save on lighting bills is simply to turn off the light when it is not in use. Energy will always be saved if a light is switched off when not in use, even if only for a minute or two.
Lighting Controls
The principal benefits of lighting controls are:
- Energy saving
- Installation cost reduction
- Flexibility of building use
- Maintenance improvements
- Compliance with standards and regulations
- Safety, productivity and well-being
- Control of lighting effects and specialist application
Movement sensors are used to turn off lighting automatically in an area when nobody is there. In some areas, including those with no natural light at all, movement sensors are also used to turn lights on automatically when somebody enters the area.
Light level sensing and ‘daylight harvesting’
Level light sensors reduce energy consumption by reducing artificial light when there is adequate and suitable natural light. For street lighting and other external lighting, simple ON/OFF operation at dusk and dawn is widely used. In contrast, successful daylight harvesting schemes for buildings are more complex and must operate in a way that is unobtrusive to building occupants. They typically reduce artificial light levels slowly in response to increasing natural light levels. For best results, dimmable light fittings should be fitted. Both fluorescent and LED lighting can be dimmed; dimming is also available for other light sources, such as High Intensity Discharge lamps.
Maintained Illuminance
Most artificial lighting sources lose some of their brightness over time. Also, when designing a regular grid of luminaires to light a space an aesthetically pleasing arrangement may not be able to produce exactly the required light level with each luminaire full on. Design specifications therefore refer to the required lighting levels as a ‘maintained level’. The ‘as new’ capability of the installed lighting will be substantially above the maintained level; so that the scheme will be over-lit on day one if is not controlled. A control system that uses dimming control to keep luminance down to the maintained level can save between 10% and 20% of the lighting electricity over the maintenance cycle of cleaning and re-lamping, with larger peak savings being achieved on day one.
Timing Control
In some schemes, such as shopping malls, time control is an effective way to reduce energy consumption. Time control may use fixed times, such as the opening hours of a mall, or astronomical times such as sunrise and sunset.
Time controls may also be used to vary the light level to suit different daily tasks. A factory area may require bright lighting when machinery is being operated but only much lower levels when the area is occupied by cleaners or security staff. Time control may also be used to affect the control regime. For example a control system may be set up so that users must switch lights on manually during daylight hours but they come on automatically in response to movement during hours of darkness, or vice versa.
For further information on Green Deal Certification for Lighting Fittings, Lighting Systems and Lighting System Controls, please contact our team on 0161 768 5807. Alternatively please email us at [email protected].