ECO-BUILDING PRODUCTS LIGHTS THE WAY FOR REAL BUSINESS BENEFITS

Lincolnshire-based renewable energy products distributor Eco Building Products has replaced the traditional florescent lighting at its Market Deeping premises with a new sustainable system from Envirolighting Ltd and has been so impressed with the results it has signed a deal with the supplier.

Sister companies Lark Energy and Kestrel Timber Frame also had new lighting installed. All three companies, part of the Larkfleet Group, have seen real savings in energy and costs since installing new tubes and switches.

Eco Building Products is a leading supplier of alternative energy technologies, insulation materials and other products aimed at making new and existing buildings ‘greener’.

Ian Greenfield, operations director at Eco Building Products, said: “The Envirolighting installation cost around £3,000. We are already seeing energy savings of up to 80 per cent and expect payback in less than two years.

“There were no new fittings, just tubes and starters, which keeps costs and installation time to a minimum. We have also installed eco light switches that only turn on some of the lights in a room. If it is too dark, simply flick the switch again and all the lights will come on. As a result, some rooms are using half the number of tubes all the time now, giving us a real saving.”

As a result of the savings that it has made, Eco Building Products is now working with Envirolighting to offer free lighting surveys to its customers and to promote Envirolighting lighting solutions for commercial premises.

Envirolighting contracts manager Paul Fowler said: “We are delighted that Eco Building Products is promoting our lighting solutions. Our surveys include an assessment of current lighting and light levels. We assess contributions of natural daylight to determine if this free light source can be used in conjunction with artificial lighting to maximise energy savings.

“Based on this we generate a proposal, which includes which lighting products we would recommend for each area of the premises, and a full energy report comparing current lighting to proposed. We highlight cost savings and reductions in energy consumption, increases in profit as a result and reductions in the business’ carbon footprint.

“We also often recommend a short trial period where we fit a small quantity of our recommended lighting products in a test area and run them for a brief time so that we can calculate average savings for the entire site. This allows customers to see the benefits of our recommendations without committing to a full project implementation.”

Envirolighting’s solution includes the installation of retrofit fluorescent T5 adaptors which are more efficient than old-style T8 and T12 fluorescents. These T5 adaptors provide the necessary high-frequency ballast to adapt switch start and starterless fittings to accept energy saving T5 fluorescents tubes with simple plug-and-play speed. This energy-saving lighting solution means an easy change to efficient lighting without the need to replace the light fittings or cause disruption.

In addition to the T5 retrofit adaptors, Envirolighting solutions also include sensor control and efficient HID dimming where fittings can be dimmed to ten per cent of their normal output when areas are unoccupied. As the fitting automatically turns back up to full output again when presence is detected, ‘re-strike’ times no longer become an issue.

Ian Greenfield added: “We have joined forces with Envirolighting to further enhance our ability to supply the best in renewable energy products to our customers.

“Eco Building Products is committed to providing the best range of quality renewable energy products available to the trade in this region. Our partnership with Envirolighting will help us to achieve that.”