Australia’s first pilot lighting energy efficiency program within a retail environment reduced energy consumption by almost 50 percent and heat loads associated with lighting by 75 percent. It was conducted at Auburn Retrovision, a medium sized store of around 1400sq m in suburban Sydney.
Undertaken by the Lighting Council of Australia with assistance from the Australian Greenhouse Office, a complete retrofit of the store’s lighting was undertaken to find energy saving solutions for small business. In the initial stages the project identified a number of qualitative and quantitative elements that had to be addressed to attain a minimum 20 percent reduction in energy consumption. The original lighting design included use of a large quantity of high wattage lamps, upward lighting, overlapping of fluorescent lights and poor use of colour rendition.
The redesign presented the retail space in four visually distinct spaces or rooms, which allowed shoppers to be drawn into the different areas with the use of differing light fittings, colour temperatures and sources. Each space was designed and fitted with lighting specific to its needs.
“The results from the pilot program at Auburn Retrovision are outstanding,” David Tilbury, chairman of Lighting Council Australia says. “We have doubled our initial savings targets. The outcome demonstrates the benefits of adopting a professional approach to the utilisation of quality lighting products and technology.”
Source : Building Product News
