When one of the UK’s largest bus and coach operators was looking for a new intelligent lighting system, Callidus, a division of Contrac Lighting recommended a solution.
As a Carbon Trust certified company, Stagecoach was eager to reduce carbon emissions in line with new government legislation. The company’s five year carbon management programme – named ‘revolution in the way we travel’ sets a target to decrease carbon emissions in Stagecoach buildings by as much as eight percent by 2014. It is estimated that this will save as much 150,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from 2009/10 to 2013/14, lowering the group’s annual emissions by approximately 40,000 tonnes of CO2 from April 2014.
In order to meet these targets Stagecoach looked to review a number of areas, one of which was the lighting systems across a number of its bus depots. Stagecoach was predominantly using old 250W SON fittings, which were running 20 hours per day, seven days per week, for 362 days per year – a total of 7,240 hours a year – wasting a lot of unnecessary energy and carbon emissions. Stagecoach wanted to update the lighting to a system which would reduce carbon emissions, whilst retaining a good overall lighting level.
Callidus, a division of Contrac Lighting, was approached to develop a new lighting solution for Stagecoach and recommended installing 4 x 54W fittings. Although some companies recommended the use of two or three lamp 80W fittings, which on first reflection appeared to use less energy than Callidus’ solution, the approach did not lend itself well to the requirement, as uniformity levels measured below 30% in some instances. This meant that the overall spread of light would be uneven, leaving contrasting areas of darkness and light, a result that was felt to be unsuitable. The Callidus plan to use bespoke fittings from Contrac Lighting would not only provide better uniformity levels, but also substantial energy savings.
Stagecoach commissioned an initial trial of Contrac’s bespoke 4 x 54W intelligent energy saving lighting systems across its depots in Glasgow, Ayr, Nuneaton, Chichester, Gloucester and Leamington. All of the depots had their own specific requirements with regards to light uniformity – being different in size and shape – which resulted in Contrac Lighting visiting each individual depot to carry out a site specific survey of the lighting system.
Contrac Lighting also recommended the installation of daylight and motion detectors. Motion detection, often referred to as occupancy or movement detection, switches lights off when a space is not being used, with daylight detection working alongside this to measure the natural light levels in a building and use this information to determine what lux level the artificial light should be at, setting the lighting levels accordingly. When no motion is detected the lights switch off and dim down to the correct levels.
Armed with the information that the new fittings would be replacing the old 250W son fittings running 7,240 hours a year at an electricity rate of .08p, and with Stagecoach estimating a conservative 50% occupancy in depots with daylight savings taken at 20%, Contrac determined that Stagecoach could realise cost savings in excess of £39,000 per annum by using 4 x 54W fittings with an integral daylight and motion detector, and reduce its CO2 emissions by 230 tonnes per year, saving as much as 40% in the energy consumption of the six depots lighting.
Anne Shone, managing director at Contrac Lighting, commented, “We are extremely pleased with the success of our lights at the six Stagecoach depots. We pride ourselves on providing tailored solutions so companies can save the maximum amount of energy, as well as receiving excellent light uniformity. The Stagecoach application is a perfect example of this and we look forward to working with them on further projects.”
With the trial successfully completed, Stagecoach commissioned Callidus and Contrac Lighting to recommend and roll-out bespoke intelligent energy efficient lighting systems in a further 32 depots across the whole of the UK. Thirty have now been completed with only two remaining.
Graham Whitelocks, director of health, safety and environment for Stagecoach UK Bus, commented, “We chose Contrac because they demonstrated, at all times, a willingness to work with us proactively and to consider all the options, recommending not only a new modern lighting solution but an energy saving one as well.”
