interiors
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Targeting carbon savings
With penalties looming for failure to cut carbon, it’s clear that improving the energy efficiency of the built environment isn’t something that can be put off until better economic times. Peter Lawrence, sales director at Steinel reports.
T
he verdict is in on the energy efficiency of the UK’s current building stock and it is not good. The recent publication of the first ever
Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) league table has given us new insight into exactly how the environmental profile of large organisations (and the buildings they inhabit) truly stacks up. Shockingly, of the 2,106 companies forced to report their carbon footprint under the mandatory government scheme, some 800 organisations failed to undertake even the simplest carbon- cutting works.
Targeting energy waste If we are to whip the built environment into energy-efficient shape, first on the agenda must be targeting energy waste. The fact that a huge amount of energy is often wasted in large build- ings will come of no surprise to any architect who’s passed an office development and found it lit up like Christmas – even late at night. Although often viewed as a low, taken for granted energy expense, lighting can account for up to 40 per cent of the energy used in commercial buildings. It’s simple to ask staff members to switch off
lights when they are not required, but in the first instance, many forget, and secondly, most simply do not feel the same level of responsibility as they do in their own homes when they are the bill payer! The case becomes even more complicated when a building is open to the public or filled with transitory visitors, such as in a university or hotel.
Differing demands A common response to this dilemma is the instal- lation of sensors to turn lights off when areas are unoccupied. This helps reduce energy waste and costs by between 35 and 45 per cent (according to the California Energy Commission). Being smart about sensor selection can make
a real difference to energy efficiency. Now that the importance of lighting control is backed by the requirements of the Building Regulations, there is much wider use of various types of sensor – not least presence detectors – and having so many to choose from provides, in football parlance, a real selection headache. Part of the problem is that every building is dif-
ferent and each demands individual scrutiny to ensure the optimum solution is derived. In open plan office spaces there is often a need to provide zoned control of lighting to accommodate different working patterns, while in a 24-hour call centre with variable occupancy a close cell detector will enable precise zoning. In the case of lighting corri- dors, a different specification is required altogether.
A teachable moment from King’s College Leading university, King’s College London, is one organisation that grappled with the problem of how to light its corridors most efficiently. At the university’s Great Dover Street Halls of Residence, the bedrooms are served by a network of totally enclosed corridors that offer no natural light. As a result, a huge amount of energy was wasted when lights were habitually left on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
‘ Installation of sensors to turn lights off when areas are unoccupied’
To solve the problem, King’s College brought in electrical contractor Adlec Installations Ltd to replace manually switch-operated ceiling lights with more than 800 high-frequency sensor con- trolled lights. “The students have some low level background
lighting [from the 3w LED module] with the main low-energy lamps activating as soon as someone enters the corridor. Further lamps activate as the person moves along the passage. The lamps remain on for 15 minutes before switching off automatically”, comments Keith McIntyre, energy and environment manager at King’s College.
Instant win The sensor-controlled lighting proved an instant win in terms of carbon savings, and the project helped to boost King’s College’s environmental profile, placing the university in the top 30 per cent of the CRC league table. What’s more, since the project is set to pay for itself in just two years, King’s College has chosen to go ahead and install 200 more of the sensor lights. As King’s College demonstrates, innovations in
the sphere of presence detection and lighting control have the potential to dramatically reduce the amount of wasted energy in the built environ- ment and, correspondingly, slash carbon emis- sions. The dismal bottom rankings of the CRC league table demonstrate that the UK has waited long enough to start fixing the energy problems of its building stock.
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