LIGHTING & LIGHTING CONTROLS
Higher learning and enlightenment at West Coventry Academy
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Whitecroft Lighting’s regional sales manager Jane Bellamy shares how pioneering lighting and lighting controls have set a new bar for energy and carbon efficiency
he West Coventry Academy in the West Midlands is the first of a number of new Net Zero Carbon (NZC) schools to be piloted by lead contractor Bowmer + Kirkland for the Department for Education (DfE).
The project was procured through the DfE’s Modern Methods of Construction Framework which meant that Bowmer + Kirkland (B+K), and its subsidiary Innovaré Systems, needed a new approach to construction and fit out to achieve NZC from day-one of the Academy operating. James Vaux-Anderson, B+K Framework delivery director, set a demanding brief, so we knew that achieving NZC would require new and disruptive thinking by Whitecroft. We had to find new ways to minimise the embodied carbon generated from materials and processes, both now and in the future, and radically reduce the day-to-day carbon emitted during operational use. In addition, the new Academy was built within the grounds of the existing school site so all the work needed to be completed before the start of the 2023 academic year. To meet this challenging project brief, Whitecroft drew on years of specialist education lighting experience and a deep understanding of the demands that are placed on lighting in this environment.
This meant delivering the latest LED lighting along with custom designed luminaires and optics that surpassed the DfE’s exacting standards of comfort and compliance, all while achieving an ambitious 2.5 watts per-square metre of energy efficiency. To help us further challenge conventional thinking we introduced lighting controls experts Prolojik, who we knew, from past collaborative experience, had developed an innovative approach to reducing the parasitic lighting load, which is the background energy that lighting uses even when it is on standby. Examining data from other secondary schools we identified that on average lighting consumed 1.5 times more energy outside of teaching time than during the actual school day. This was due to non-teaching activities including cleaning and security, plus processes such as emergency light testing, and the energy consumed by lighting when it is on standby mode. This presented an opportunity because driving up energy and material efficiency in these areas, combined with use of the latest LEDs, could redefine energy and carbon efficiency for a project of this type. Asela Rodrigo, Founder, Director and CTO at
Prolojik, said: “While others were trying to hit the DfE’s power consumption target of four watts per-square metre, James and his team at B+K encouraged us to rewrite chapters of the
lighting rule book and strive for a new level of 2.5 watts per-square metre.
“This level of efficiency was, frankly, unheard of, and if achieved could redefine lighting and lighting controls for education and beyond. Our big play was to take the low whole- life carbon baseline already achieved by Whitecroft’s lighting and control the lighting using a DC rather than an AC system for the first time.”
AC to DC
Historically lighting controls meant bringing in 230v mains cabling and stepping it down so you can eventually drive a light source. Whitecroft and Prolojik identified that there
are inherent inefficiencies in this method, as each stage of the process requires electronics, heat generation and power loss, all of which are radically reduced by switching to low voltage DC.
Asela explained: “Drawing on exploratory R&D evolved over the Covid pandemic, Prolojik developed a power-over-ethernet DC driver, which with Whitecroft’s new generation of highly efficient luminaires could deliver 97% efficiency!
“A new A4 sized modular lighting control unit could then control the power and lighting in each individual classroom, using standard low energy ethernet patch cables. The positive knock-on effects on operation and reduced embodied carbon were huge.”
Smart lanyards and emergency testing
To increase energy efficiency outside of teaching time we also custom designed and manufactured 200 pre-programmed Bluetooth lanyards that wirelessly customise the lighting depending on the profile of the wearer. These automatically launch different lighting backdrops for teachers, cleaners, security staff and visitors as they enter and leave a room. Like all public buildings, the emergency lighting systems in schools must be tested at periodic intervals, which is usually managed by an inhouse or external FM team. At West Coventry Academy a non-specialist operative can now access this emergency test data via a touch screen, providing the required information at the press of a button. Asela added: “Our next generation of control panel will combine the emergency lighting test with granular power consumption data
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for each room, giving real time metrics on how efficient a room is across a day or a year, ensuring further data driven efficiency. “The DfE now has a new lighting platform that is super-efficient to start with, but also has the tools to provide a high-degree of data and insight, so it can improve the efficiency of lighting in schools year-on-year, project-by-project.” West Coventry Academy is a great example of the benefit of approaching energy and carbon efficiency four dimensionally and asking, ‘how do you make savings from the past, as well as for the present and the future?’ For example, Whitecroft Lighting has
redesigned its lighting using the principles of circularity, incorporating modular features that enable the future replacement and reuse of key components.
Innovation means that future embodied carbon and waste is saved by lengthening the lifespan of materials which can be measured and accounted for at the point of installation. Our modular lighting design also meant that the hardware could fit though standard door frames at West Coventry Academy, simplifying the installation process and allowing for greater flexibility in the installation. The accumulated cost, energy and carbon savings all mount up because you no longer need to pay a safety specialist to test the emergency lighting or bring in an electrician to install lighting control cables or wireless Bluetooth light switches. All these savings are offset against the cost of time, people and equipment. B+K Framework Delivery Director, James Vaux- Anderson, said: “Our team and our partners have worked exceptionally hard and invested a great deal of time, effort and resources to get where we are today at West Coventry Academy. “Together we are setting the trends for simulating the world of NZC buildings. We are increasing the skills of all those involved, but also challenging our industry to build better spaces and greener places.” I agree with James. The lighting at West Coventry Academy is a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when client demands converge with evolving technology and a recognition of the increasing importance of energy efficiency. The quantified energy and carbon savings
at West Coventry go far beyond marginal gains but make significant inroads into the efficiency of a building, and the priority for Whitecroft and Prolojik is to further develop our combined proposition across the remaining B+K academies.
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