Facilities making savings with energy-efficient lighting

What do Valvoline, Eilbeck Cranes, Southern Steel and 3M have in common? They have all recently upgraded their power-hungry 400 W high-bay lights to energy-efficient EELCO fittings. Apart from an immediate improvement in illumination levels, all four companies can also take advantage of significant government rebates now available for approved energy-efficient upgrades.

Australian-made EELCO high bays are claimed to consume as little as 30% of the energy used by their standard metal halide and mercury vapour counterparts. The result is a considerable reduction in electricity running costs often completely recouping installation costs in as little as 12 months. Combine this with ongoing maintenance cost savings, the product provides a viable way for Australian industry to reduce both its carbon footprint and it operating costs.

With more than 30 high- and low-bay product variants, ELLCO custom designs each retrofit project to ensure a ‘one for one’ replacement of existing lights will maximise energy savings and, importantly, maintain Australian Standards AS1680 compliant lighting levels.

For Valvoline, the upgrade of metal halide high bays throughout its Wetherill Park NSW Consumer Lubricants Production facility in November 2012 has resulted in annual savings of $12,800 and 64 tonnes of CO₂.

Thanks to the inclusion of an automated daylight harvesting system, made possible by the ‘instant ON’ function of the 48 series luminaires, the high-bay lighting upgrade at Eilbeck Cranes’ Ingleburn, NSW, manufacturing facility in January 2013 is estimated to save the company more than $20,000 and 45 tonnes of CO₂  annually.

After completion of a trial upgrade in March 2010, Southern Steel implemented the complete retrofit of metal halide high bays throughout its Rigby Jones Engineering heavy steel fabrication facility in December 2012. Apart from a dramatic improvement in lighting levels, the company is now reported to be saving $29,000 annually in running costs and 130 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Mercury vapour low bays throughout the external despatch area at 3M’s Pemulway, NSW, distribution centre were upgraded in December 2012, resulting in a reported annual savings of $7800 and 36 tonnes of CO₂.

EELCO CEO Mat Fear says: “Linear fluorescent technology used in our 48 series luminaires offers superior performance and longevity compared to emerging technologies such as LED and induction. LED has its place in residential and low-roof commercial environments but the high summer temperatures at roof level in most Australian industrial facilities mean that these imports are just not viable long term in high-bay applications. Standardised T5 replacement lamps for EELCO luminaires are readily available and relatively inexpensive, resulting in a lighting system that remains viable well into the future.”