A short and sweet guide to making your business more energy efficient by making changes to your lighting. Created by the Camden Climate Change Alliance and aimed at businesses based in the London Borough of Camden, UK. For more information please visit www.camdencca.org
2. How these guides work
Our ‘Energy Projects Made Easy’ e-event is designed to provide you with tools and tips
to help you implement an energy efficiency project. Each of these guides focuses on a
different type of project, and each is packed with hints, tips, links and case-study
information. These presentations are not designed to be detailed step by step toolkits;
rather, they aim to provide guidance and inspiration for your future energy efficiency
projects.
Each guide follows a similar format:
• an introduction to the topic
• the types of improvements you can make
• how to calculate the costs and benefits of your project – developing a business
case for the project
• tips and pointers towards suppliers and potential funding opportunities
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Blue case-study boxes are dotted throughout these
guides. All are from Alliance members who have
successfully implemented a variety of energy efficiency
projects, and we’re delighted to be able to highlight
some of their work for your benefit in these guides.
These red boxes contain useful
facts and figures
These green boxes link you to a
key external resource
3. Introduction
Up to 40% of a building’s energy use comes from lighting, but up to 75% of
the UK’s buildings have outdated lighting, which is detrimental to both energy
usage and the working environment. Huge energy savings can be found in
implementing a lighting energy efficiency project, as well as more intangible
benefits such as increased productivity and/or sales from having a more
comfortable working environment.
Lighting is one of the simplest energy efficiency projects to implement:
• It’s easy to calculate your current usage and costs
• Changing light fittings can equal guaranteed savings, making calculating
the payback period of your measures is straightforward
• Upgrading lighting for most organisations does not involve a prohibitively
large capital investment
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
4. What you can do
There are two main types of lighting energy efficiency project:
• Implement lighting controls
– motion sensors
– daylight sensors
– dimming v. switching
• Implement lighting retrofits and refurbishments
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
5. Benefits of lighting projects
• Lighting accounts for 40% of a building’s energy usage, making it a large
part of your electricity bills
• For a relatively small outlay you can make huge savings, often up to 50%
or more!
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
The General Medical Council found benefits of
new LED lighting beyond just energy savings.
These included: less waste, less maintenance
required, more pleasant working environment,
reduced heat and noise, and no toxic chemicals
or UV light is produced.
• There are many advantages to
a lighting project beyond just
saving money and energy –
see the case-study box on this
page
6. Which type of project is right for you?
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Your current lighting may make
choosing a project very simple: the
British Library had aging lighting
units and fittings, which made
installing new lighting the obvious
solution. They replaced old 6’
flourescent tubes with LED tubes
that use one third of the electricity
and last over three times longer
• Every organisation’s circumstances are different, so
understanding which type of project is best for you is
vital.
• Refurbishments and retrofits differ in that the former
takes a blank canvas approach, while retrofits offer to
opportunity to make smaller and quicker savings for
smaller outlays.
As the Carbon Trust table to the left
shows, there is a huge variety of
projects just within the topic of
lighting controls. While we don’t have
the space to explore them all in
detail, be aware of the many options
that are out there!
7. Lighting controls
Rather than simply replacing your existing lighting, it may be worthwhile to
install motion sensors or daylight sensors onto existing fittings. For smaller
businesses, these sensors can be combined with a controller that operates
local lights, rather than making changes to your wiring.
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Mix and match solutions depending on
circumstances: The Building Centre
introduced motion and daylight sensor
lighting for their tenanted offices, and
timed lighting for their exhibition space.
Daylight sensors can be adjusted for each
individual light, which means making
adjustments depending on how far a light
is away from a window is easy.
Daylight and motion
sensors on existing
lighting can save up
to 25% of electricity
use
8. Lighting retrofits and refurbishments
• Lighting refurbishment does of course depend on what your current light fittings
are: replacing fluorescent tubes like those in the picture below is a common option
– the smallest tubes pictured, T5s, are much more efficient than their larger T12
cousins. It is also quite straightforward to convert your old fittings to take the
smaller T5 tubing
• Installing new LED lighting is another common option for spot-lit areas. They tend
to be relatively more expensive than other energy efficient options, but can last up
to 10x as long as the incandescent lamps they may be replacing.
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Know your OLEDs from your LEDs?
Check out Inhabitat’s guide to types
of energy efficient lighting
9. Calculations
• Calculating accurate estimates of costs and use for lighting is fairly simple
because:
– Lights are either on or off
– Each light will use a set amount of electricity, detailed on the bulb itself
(usually in Watts)
• Payback periods for lighting is often very low, as the initial outlay for
lighting is fairly small
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Learn just how easy it is to make all
the calculations required with our
practical video demonstration
The replacement of 36W fluorescent
tubes with 15W LEDs that Phil uses as his
example in the video demonstration is
exactly what the General Medical Council
did – they saved nearly 48,000kWh in one
year!
10. Funding and Suppliers
Funding
• Lighting upgrades are eligible for
the Enhanced Capital Allowances
scheme
• The Green Grants Machine
website is a great directory of
relevant grants and funding
opportunities for energy
efficiency measures
• Carbon Trust and Siemens
Financial are working together to
provide ‘Energy Efficiency
Financing’ for companies of all
sizes and sectors
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Over 4500 businesses have
benefited from the Carbon
Trust/Siemens scheme
11. Funding and Suppliers
Suppliers
• The Society of Light and Lighting,
the Lighting Industry Federation
and the Electrical Contractors
Association all have accredited
member directories
We have a number of lighting
suppliers listed in our Green
Suppliers List, a comprehensive
directory of green products,
suppliers and services
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
12. First Steps
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
Conduct a walk-
around
• Conduct a walk-around of your premises
• Things to look out for include your type of fittings, wattage and existing lighting
controls
Calculations
• Use our helpful video guide to calculate the cost and energy of your current usage
• Calculate the potential savings; remember to include payback period calculations
Examine
funding
opportunities
• Check out the funding page of this guide to see what funding may be available
• Not all lighting retrofits and refurbishments are eligible for financing schemes and
tax allowance schemes – check your chosen lighting solution qualifies
Create a
business case
• Combine all of the above to create a business case for your chosen project
• You can also include here the non monetary advantages of implementing a lighting
energy project
13. Key Resources
Camden Climate Change Alliance
• The Energy Projects Made Easy homepage
• Our video guide to calculating your lighting usage
• Our Green Suppliers Directory
Carbon Trust
• The Carbon Trust has a variety of lighting guides on its website
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
14. Contact
The Camden Climate Change Alliance
Website: www.camdencca.org
Telephone: 0207 974 3901
Email: camdencca@camden.gov.uk
Twitter: www.twitter.com/camdenclimate
Energy Projects Made Easy, Guide 1: Lighting
This guide was produced in August 2012 by Adam
Webber (adam.webber@camden.gov.uk, 0207 974
3901)