How to reduce their building's energy consumption through lighting?

August 11, 2022

In a more energy-conscious climate, how can facilities managers reduce their building's energy consumption through lighting?

COP26, the UN annual climate conference last year, featured a day dedicated to urgently addressing the environmental impact of cities and the built environment - an issue that continues to gain importance. Given that our buildings are responsible for 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, it's surprising that this point is often overlooked. Buildings and outdated construction practices have contributed to this crisis, and we must quickly turn our new and existing buildings into climate emergency first-responders. Raising the standard of our new building stock will be a welcome change. But to meet emission targets, there are some quick wins facilities managers can undertake.

Taking action

Businesses – however big or small – can influence how they operate to reduce their building's energy consumption.”

First and foremost, the switch toward energy-efficient connected LED lighting ensures a quick win. Replacing incandescent lamps, LED lamps offer the potential to reduce electricity consumption by 50% to 80%. Adding in controls and IoT devices like motion sensors enable businesses to manage lighting use and electricity consumption further - if there is no movement, the lights switch off. With this, businesses can aim at an extra 10% to 30% energy savings, depending on use.

Connected lighting can significantly enable any building to become even more efficient – energy-wise and operationally.”

One such system is our Interact "connected lighting" system. Intelligent drivers and sensors are embedded into the light fixtures to create a wired or wireless infrastructure allowing full remote control and management of the lighting. A remote cloud-based system can also be used to allow for multiple sites to be connected into one common platform/dashboard – making it easy to take complete control of all the lighting across multisite and countries, from anywhere, at any time. This makes sure different managers can meet unique needs for every site, is easy to understand and operate. But this is just the beginning.

Intelligent Occupancy sensors, which are embedded into the lighting, continuously gather data about the presence and footfall within the space. Heat maps can then be created to optimise the lighting regimes/levels further and help improve operational costs by optimising stock locations and pick times.

Environmental sensing is also possible with smart sensors. For example, temperatures can be continually monitored and optimised, to ensure the right amount of heating and cooling is applied to the space. Similarly, CO2 levels can be monitored to keep an eye on ventilation and air flows. All this ensures reduced energy consumption for any building.

Armed with this additional functionality, intelligence, data and insights, interact enables facilities managers to make informed changes and achieve better levels of operational efficiency & sustainability than ever.

The Green Halo effect

The benefits of a sustainable building go beyond environmental responsibility. A sustainable building —appropriately lit, appropriately heated, and carbon-neutral—can be a differentiator and also add to the inhabitants wellbeing.

In conclusion

A connected lighting systems can be a key enabler for building a better, cleaner, more sustainable future. As other crucial elements in the global economy, the built environment must find ways to put those systems to work.

About the author:

James Bennett

Commercial Director – Systems and Service Office & Industry (O&I) / Retail & Hospitality (R&H)

For further information, please contact:

Signify UK&I PR Manager

Nikita Mahajan
Tel: + 44 (0)7459751618
Email: nikita.mahajan@signify.com

About Signify

Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2023, we had sales of EUR 6.7 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for seven consecutive years and have achieved the EcoVadis Platinum rating for four consecutive years, placing Signify in the top one percent of companies assessed. News from Signify can be found in the Newsroom, on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors is located on the Investor Relations page.

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