The prestigious educational institution Bath University has just strengthened its position as one of the best establishments in the country by installing a truly state-of-the-art lighting system.
Across the campus, the new lights will be controlled remotely, meaning that the teams which manage the operational running of the campus will have a far easier job than they did before, Lux Magazine reported.
According to the brief, the project was especially focussed on energy efficiency - a priority for many properties. The new lighting also needed to be able to be controlled remotely and automatically carry out testing and report faults. As with many initiatives of a similar nature, it also had to be relatively simple.
Up until now, the emergency testing procedure had been extremely time consuming, as the person carrying out the test would have to wait three hours after beginning it to see if the batteries had worked or not. Checking faults also took up a disproportionate amount of personnel's valuable time.
The university used specialist consultant FAB Controls who opted to use the Dali control system, as it enabled them to use units from different manufacturers. This gave the final design far more flexibility in terms of its composition.
One way in which this particular project presented a challenge was that the university wanted the entire system to be controlled under one system - across different buildings and even including ones that weren't necessarily on the campus.
This meant that designers had to come up with a completely new monitoring system which they called GreenLux. They were able to connect all of the different buildings by using the university's computer network which spread across the buildings.
Results show that the new Dali system has reduced energy consumption by 20 per cent to 40 per cent, while the installation of LED units has further slashed usage. Setting lights to have a maximum output of 75 per cent will further reduce the amount of energy used.
Richard Hughes, electrical services manager at the university, said the project has "allowed us to free up countless man-hours and simplify our management processes. Furthermore, the significant savings in energy use will help us achieve our wider energy-efficiency targets, and save tens of thousands of pounds over the life of the installation."
