Martin Thompson, Technical Services Manager & Sustainability Lead from Tridonic UK, gives an insight into the manufacturer’s current focus on sustainability and plans for the future to keep driving towards Net Zero. He also shares the successful overhaul of Tridonic’s Spennymoor facility, using the sustainability principles that the company is renowned for.

At Tridonic, we’ve worked hard to establish a reputation across the global lighting sector for our sustainable lighting solutions that are manufactured responsibly. Our commitment to environmentally friendly lighting technology is based on a vision of realising the full potential of light and making a positive contribution to the planet and community through our solutions.

Of course, this has to be underpinned by a commitment to improving our own practices and policies. We formalised this back in 2021, when we created the ‘Sustainable Tridonic’ sustainability strategy and more recently our UK specific sustainability pillar in the Tridonic360 campaign. This strategy holds us to account on how we minimise the environmental impact of processes across our value chains. Organised into three pillars, the sustainability strategy gives us and our partners a clear focus on how we can work together to reduce our environmental footprint for a sustainable future.

The first pillar is sustainable products, which sets out how we minimise resource consumption, using materials more efficiently and increasing the proportion of recyclable raw materials. Circular design concepts are proven in our Cradle to Cradle (C2C) LED drivers and modules, products created for the long-term allowing them to be reused in a new cycle. Our goal is to align our premium product portfolio by 2030 with the Cradle to Cradle design concept.

Looking further at our own practices, we have continued to implement circular processes and optimise production for sustainability. The company’s packaging has been converted to 80-90% recycled cardboard, significantly reducing carbon emissions.

The second pillar is being a partner of choice. This is where we build responsible and sustainable cooperation with trust based collaboration – as an employer or technology partner, and with our suppliers.

The final pillar is environmental protection. Here we focus on reducing CO₂ emissions across our company’s value chain. We also concentrate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our manufacturing sites’ production and operation processes. It is through this pillar that we have undertaken a recent overhaul of our Spennymoor facility, using a range of Tridonic lighting solutions.

The Spennymoor site, which encompasses a Tridonic factory, test facilities and offices, is a prime example of how facilities managers can have a data-driven workplace strategy to drive long-term sustainability.

A recent upgrade to the facility’s lighting, using Tridonic solutions, has delivered an array of impressive energy savings and associated cost reductions. The upgrade has been completed utilising the introduction of Tridonic’s Building Asset 360 market approach, which included the replacement of outdated fluorescent lighting to LED lighting and controls.

Building Asset 360 market approach is built on the principle of seeing luminaires as more than just sources of light and enables the exploration of data on the performance and health of each luminaire.

This market approach encompasses all Tridonic solutions including wireless lighting and wireless emergency lighting. It also embraces the interoperability between other systems such as BMS for a market that is requiring retrofit solutions. In many cases, it can leverage assets that already exist with the building.

The result over just the initial three phases of the upgrade – offices, production hall, warehouse, compressor room, outside canopy and mezzanine – delivered savings of approximately 181MWhrs per annum. This is a 50% saving, securing a reduction in energy expenditure of £65,000 each year.

Spennymoor is now a fully-functioning, sustainable workplace that is not just collecting data, but converting these valuable insights into actions that make a big difference. This is not the end of the journey for Tridonic, however, and further energy saving projects, such as the implementation of daylight harvesting, are in the pipeline for the future.

Tridonic will maintain momentum in innovating and exploring new ways to reduce our carbon footprint, while supporting clients and partners to do the same.

For more on this topic, click here

Catch up on previous ‘Soapbox’ articles here

The post Driving Towards Net Zero: Tridonic’s Sustainability Strategy | Soapbox appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.

Mike Collins, Director of Operations at Ovia Lighting, takes a look at the drive towards Net Zero and how smart lighting has a vital role to play in building automation and energy efficiency.

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change, adopted by 196 parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects. To achieve this long term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century. Put simply, Net Zero is the balance between the greenhouse gases produced and the amount taken away.

Whilst it might not garner as many headlines as clean energy innovations, energy efficiency plays an essential role in achieving Net Zero. According to the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), if well-known energy efficiency best practices were implemented on a large scale, building energy demand could be reduced by one-third by 2050 globally, delivering 5.8 billion tons of CO2 emissions savings.

The role of LED lighting in Net Zero targets

According to The Climate Group: “LED lighting has been recognised as one of the most actionable and ready-to-implement technologies for cities to transition to a low carbon economy and peak emissions in the next decade.” It also states that lighting accounts for nearly 6% of global CO2 emissions, and a global switch to LEDs could save over 1,400 million tons of CO2 and avoid the construction of 1,250 power stations.

Switching to LEDs is an easy win – something as minor as a 20% reduction in energy costs can add the same benefit as a 5% increase in sales for business. Upgrading from conventional lighting to LED technology can deliver significant cost savings of up to 80% for a business. This is according to the Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.   By replacing incandescent lamps with LED lamps there is the potential to reduce electricity consumption by 50% to 80%. If you add in controls and IoT devices like motion sensors, building owners will be able to further manage lighting use and electricity consumption.

Smart controls

The use of appropriate lighting controls can further boost savings. These can include daylight linked photoelectric control, presence detection with occupancy sensors, time switching and flexible manual control. According to BEIS savings of 30%-50% are common for circumstances where automatic controls are used.

Control is the key word with smart lighting because it empowers building owners and facilities managers to ensure optimal energy usage with the least waste. The occupants of a building will often not be aware of the waste, or they do not take responsibility for taking any action and this makes the need for a degree of automatic lighting control more important.

Smart lighting uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, all powered by data fed via connected Internet of Things devices sited around a building. Such devices may include the likes of sensors that detect room occupancy, time of day and volume of natural light. One of the most common approaches to automatic lighting control is the use of occupation detection. Passive infra-red occupancy detectors are commonly used for detecting the movement of people within their detection zone. Microwave sensors are also used in a range of settings.

Lots of detection products include photocell (light level) detection, which provides these lighting controls with the ability to control lighting loads based on whether an area is occupied as well as the prevailing ambient lighting conditions. There are controls which are simply designed to switch on or off, and others that will also dim or brighten dimmable lighting loads in response to changes in daylight. DALI and 0-10V are common examples of dimming technologies. Sensor technology has the added advantage of being touch-free which is an important consideration as we strive to maintain a clean environment and create safer spaces for everyone.

Health and wellbeing

When looking to deliver low carbon, high efficiency lighting solutions, consideration should be given to the needs of the people who occupy the building spaces. Staff represent approximately 90% of the running costs of a business, so their health and wellbeing is a major consideration, and the health and wellbeing of people doesn’t have to come at the cost of carbon emissions. Delivering a high quality lighting design that follows industry guidance will result in resilient, adaptable spaces that puts people first. This will ensure the long term viability of the solutions and minimise the long term environmental effects.

For further details, click here

The post Putting the spotlight on net zero | Ovia Lighting appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.