Carbon Trust lights the way to energy savings

The potential to reduce the electricity consumption of the offices of the Carbon Trust in London by 25% has been provided by the installation of an automatic lighting-control system. Carbon Trust is the company set up by the Government to help the UK meet its climate-change obligations. Ex-Or installed its LightSpot system on three floors of the Carbon Trust office in Clement’s Inn. The system switches lights on and off by monitoring the presence of occupants and the amount of natural light available. Open-plan office areas, cellular offices and meeting rooms are controlled by the system. Around the perimeter of open-plan areas, lights are not used when there is enough daylight. Lights in meeting rooms are automatically switched off when they are not occupied. The Carbon Trust installed the lighting controls to improve the energy efficiency of its offices. Energy efficiency is a simple and cost-effective way of cutting carbon emissions. Lighting can account for up to half of a commercial building’s energy use. Peter Hambly, director of marketing and communications at the Carbon Trust, says, ‘We do exactly what all small and medium-sized enterprises can do to cut carbon emissions. We have an environment policy and an action plan where we look at and review all our systems as a business and work out way where we can become more energy efficient. Automatic lighting control can dramatically cut the unnecessary use of lighting.’

Related links:

• www.ex-or.com