• • • ENERGY EFFICIENCY • • •
Energy Efficient Lighting By Chris Anderson, Technical Manager at Ansell Lighting
esponsible for up to 40 per cent of a building’s electricity use, lighting is a significant contributor to overall energy consumption in homes and businesses throughout the UK.
R In this article, we speak with Chris Anderson,
Technical Manager at Ansell Lighting, who looks at current energy-efficient lighting solutions that can help to improve energy efficiency and environmental impact.
A key objective of all new and replacement lighting installations is energy efficiency. Driven by rising energy prices, sustainability targets and increasing environmental awareness, it is a critical factor that installers must consider when specifying and designing new lighting projects. One of the key innovations that has supported steps to improve lighting efficiency is LED technology. Over the last few decades, LEDs have revolutionised the way homes and businesses are lit, delivering significant energy savings, and contributing to more sustainable practices. Not just confined to bulb form, LED technology has been incorporated into strip lights, specialist emergency luminaires and commercial and industrial lamps, providing versatile, high- performance solutions that meet a wide range of functional and aesthetic requirements. LEDs consume up to 90 per cent less power than incandescent bulbs and up to 80 per cent less than fluorescent lights, making them an essential solution for reducing energy consumption. Whilst there is no blanket law requiring lights to be LED in the UK, significant incentives and standards encouraging their widespread adoption have been successful leading to their extensive use. Especially in newly built properties.
Although LED technology has already proved a huge game-changer, its use alongside other new technologies can completely transform energy use even further.
Smart lighting is one such technology. Enabling
every single lighting detail to be precisely programmed and automated, it supports users to
tailor their surroundings to their specific needs and routines. From the timings of operation to the colour, brightness, intensity and combination of luminaires in use, every individual light fitting can be programmed and controlled to the most minute detail.
Adding in products such as microwave or smart sensors or bulbs with motion sensor technology, further enhances energy efficiency and automation, ensuring lighting automatically adjusts to occupancy levels. In spaces like corridors, bathrooms, or meeting rooms that may be used sporadically, lighting can be automatically turned off when not needed, ensuring that energy is not wasted.
This intricate level of control means that energy use can be completely optimised, with a well- designed and operated smart lighting system capable of reducing lighting energy use by up to two thirds in homes and businesses. As with all technology, some installers may experience resistance from customers when
discussing the specification of smart lighting in their installations. In these instance’s installers could also recommend smart accessories such as smart bulbs, strip lighting and smart plugs as an alternative to wholly connected systems allowing users to try out the technology before committing to a full system. Smart bulbs for example, can be installed in existing lamps and light fittings and linked together to form a fully automated and controllable lighting system whilst smart plugs go beyond just lighting, giving connectivity to anything that is plugged into them. Ideal for floor and table lamps, they enable traditional fittings to be linked together, automated and controlled in the same way as a fully integrated smart lighting system. To further enhance the capabilities of smart lighting, new technologies like light monitoring dashboards have also recently emerged. Ideal for commercial projects, these advanced tools provide real-time data on the performance and energy consumption of a building’s lighting systems, allowing operators to monitor, manage and optimise lighting environments with greater precision.
Light monitoring dashboards work by collecting data from the devices across the entire lighting network. This data is then presented in a user-friendly interface that offers full visibility of the lighting infrastructure at a glance. Building operators can track how, when and where energy is being used, and identify areas of unnecessary consumption. This insight enables smarter decision-making and the ability to make quick adjustments that can further reduce energy waste, CO emissions and costs.
As you can see, when combined, LED and smart lighting technologies create the gold standard for modern lighting installations. This integration not only results in a drastic reduction in energy consumption but also enables buildings to become more adaptable and responsive to the needs of their occupants.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • FEBRUARY 2025 45
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