Introduction
Installing energy efficient lighting systems throughout your building can help to drastically reduce the amount of energy consumed, lower your electricity bills, and reduce the carbon footprint of the building. When considering how to improve the energy performance of your building’s lighting system there are several things to look at.
Light bulbs
Traditional models of light bulbs, incandescent and halogen, are very energy inefficient in comparison to modern light emitting diodes (LED). LEDs turn on instantly at full brightness and have been produced to fit almost any light fittings. LEDs can turn about 70% of their energy into light compared to around 5% for incandescent and approximately 20-25% for halogens. LED linear/tube lighting can also be used to replace linear fluorescent lighting, which is commonly found in offices and industry places, as they are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
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Sensors and timers
Movement sensors or timers can be installed on lights to stop them lights being left on unnecessarily in empty rooms. Lights that come with motion sensors included can be installed, but some existing lights can have motion sensors installed without the whole light being replaced.
For museums with intermittent footfall throughout the day or across their building, installing movement sensors could significantly reduce the amount of electricity used in lighting empty rooms.
Museums can install timers on lighting systems in areas which are used during certain hours of the day, such as for displays or workshops. There are different kinds of timers, such as automatic, programmable, wireless/smart, digital, exterior, light sensitive, miniature, staircase, twilight, and multi-channel timers.
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