St Michael's Car Park in Northampton has seen a sudden reduction in energy usage having switched to Honeywell LED Lighting, triggering a concerned call from the energy provider who mistakenly believed lights must have stopped working.
The move to LED is predicted to reduce the car park's energy consumption by as much as 75 percent, saving up to £17,800 annually.
Councillor John Caswell, Deputy Leader Northampton Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "A few weeks after we made the switchover our energy provider called us, concerned that several lights in the car park must have stopped working as there'd been such a dramatic drop in energy usage. Not only are the huge energy-savings – and resulting cost-savings – already obvious, but the significantly lower maintenance costs will also impact our bottom line over time.
St Michael's is the first car park in the borough to have LED lighting installed. The existing 6-foot twin 70 watt fluorescent units were replaced with Honeywell 5-foot twin 23 watt LED Utility units, reducing the energy consumption of lighting in parking bays from 178 watts to 46 watts and halving the energy consumption in the stairwells. This gave comparable light output whilst significantly reducing energy usage.
Councillor Caswell continued: "With a lifespan of 60,000 hours, the only maintenance of the new Honeywell LED lighting system requires over the next 10 years is cleaning, compared to fluorescent lamps which need to be replaced approximately every two years – for St Michael's car park the result is far less disruption to everyday operations."
In the search for the right solution Northampton Borough Council was guided by LED consultancy, InterLED Lighting Limited, which works with public and private sector organisations across the UK to recommend LED products to meet bespoke challenges.
Nigel Wills, Director of InterLED added: "We were mandated to find a lighting solution that provided the same LUX lighting levels but which significantly lowered the energy consumption and maintenance required, achieving payback within 5 years on energy savings alone. We proposed Honeywell LED lighting because of the significantly longer warranty – Honeywell's fitting has twin LED tubes with a separate driver attached to the gear tray rather than built in to the tube. This helps achieve the 60,000 hour life of the tubes, allowing for an industry-leading warranty."
