Saving Advice Lighting

Saving Advice Lighting

Up to 20% of an office electricity bill is made up of the cost of lighting. This cost can be significantly reduced by implementing some simple changes.

Key Measures

• Maximise use of daylight
• Ensure lighting is appropriate to the task
• Improve lighting controls
• Improve lighting efficiency

Practical Tips
Raising awareness amongst your staff to turn off the lights in rooms or areas where they are not in use should reduce your yearly bill by around 15%. Label switches and encourage people to turn lights of after use, which always saves money.

At a cost of approximately £40, an infra-red detector could be installed in areas that receive natural light to ensure that lights are only on in areas where they are necessary.

Where access is for brief periods only, pop-out switches can be installed for an average of £20 per switch. This should reduce the bill by around 5-10%.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are more efficient than tungsten bulbs.
Fluorescent bulbs use 80% less electricity than tungsten GLS lamps
They Last approximately 10 times longer
The approximate cost of a bulb is £10

Consider replacing lighting with new high frequency triphosphor fluorescent.
These can be dimmed
They use about 20% less energy
Ideally you should replace older 38mm (T12) fluorescent tubes with 26mm T8 types that give a better colour light and use 8% less energy.

Display lighting is costly and is often left on longer than necessary.
Switching it off when not needed or fitting a timer will save money. The bill could be reduced by approximately 15%.
Have lighting levels checked as they may be inappropriately high for the task. Local task lighting may reduce glare and energy use.

Outside lighting is often left on for long hours.
Survey outside lighting and then judge the hours it needs to be on.
If the lights need to be on full time then sodium lighting is the most effective option.
Fit automatic photocell switching

As always, using efficient equipment is the best solution.
During refurbishment, high frequency triphosphor lighting should be considered. Although more costly than traditional lighting they use 20% less energy

Further information on lighting

• Lightswitch is a partnership between The Energy Trust and The Lighting Industry. Small and medium sized businesses are eligible for government-funded rebates of up to £6,000. Visit www.lightswitch.co.uk for further details
• UK lighting manufacturers website www.lif.co.uk