The Goodlight retro-fit lighting range from LED Eco Lights is being used at three sites operated by Hopwells, an independent frozen food distributor.
As part of an ongoing programme aimed at improving its overall service and reducing operating costs, Hopwells arranged a survey of its existing lighting systems at sites in Burscough, Brownhills and Nottingham. The survey identified the need to reduce energy costs and retro-fit LED lighting emerged as a solution to achieve this, without the expense and disruption of installing new fittings throughout the sites.
Foremost among the recommendations was the replacement of conventional fluorescent tubes and SON sodium lamps with lower wattage, more efficient LED alternatives from the company’s Goodlight range. A total of 220 Goodlight retro-fit lamps were supplied and fitted, including T8 5ft LED tube lights and E40 LED SON lamps. This has resulted in 75% annual savings in both kWh and CO2 emissions which equates to a reduction of 36 tonnes from the 220 lamps. Additionally, this initiative is saving the company over £12,000 each year in running costs, and even more in maintenance costs.
The new Goodlight lamps and tube lamps have been installed throughout the three Hopwells sites with the majority fitted within various cold stores. It is therefore crucial that any heat generated by lighting is kept to an absolute minimum to avoid affecting the cold stores’ operating temperatures which are maintained at minus 23°C. In fact, the much lower running temperature of the new LED lighting, compared to the conventional system it replaced, means that Hopwells is benefiting from lower refrigeration costs.
Another key factor in Hopwells’ decision to specify Goodlight LED lighting is the immediate illumination provided in contrast to the lengthy ‘warm-up’ time required by the previous sodium SON lamps. Phil Holman, Hopwells’ operations director, welcomed this aspect of the new lighting. He commented, “The Goodlight products have proved to be good quality and reliable whereas we had experienced failures when evaluating other LED lamps. The LED lights are particularly suitable for cold stores because they strike almost immediately whereas SON lamps take about 15 minutes to reach full light output. This means that they can be operated by movement sensors providing even greater kWh savings.”
