Council taxpayers are benefitting from more efficient street lighting across Derbyshire, thanks to a new lighting project implemented by Thorn Lighting, using the latest technology from Lighting Reality.
Derbyshire County Council operates more than 89,000 street lights and wanted a new system to reduce its costs and meet its CO2 reduction targets.
Thorn Lighting made this happen utilising Lighting Reality PRO software to help select more efficient and longer-lasting products to replace the energy-guzzling SON-T lanterns used in residential areas.
Thorn’s CiviTEQ luminaire was selected – a cost-effective LED road lighting solution that offers the best possible balance between cost of ownership and performance, easily adapting to any installation layout.
Its patented R-PEC optic has been designed to provide safe and efficient light on residential streets and busy roads, with 12 precise light distributions delivering unparalleled versatility.
CiviTEQ is also dimmable, unlocking further efficiencies and its bi-power switch can be used to activate or deactivate dimming on-site.
Paul Brownbridge, the chief lighting engineer at ZG Lighting (UK) Ltd, was the main designer on the project and said: “The Optimize function in the Lighting Reality PRO software enabled me to sort the 290 luminaire variants available in to a quick and easy-to view-list.
“From this list I could quickly tell which of the luminaire variants achieved the target spacing required in the project while using the lowest amount of flux.
“Selecting this luminaire then allowed for further tweaking of the flux to further optimise the solution.”
“Once the most suitable luminaire variant had been selected and then further optimisation been carried out, it was then a quick calculation to convert this optimised flux in to energy to make sure I was offering the most energy efficient solution possible to Derbyshire County Council.
Mr Brownbridge explained that once the most suitable luminaire variant had been selected and further optimisation was carried out, Lighting Reality PRO’s dimming option was applied to see which percentage dim should be used.
He said: “Two values of flux were then known – the 100% output flux to achieve the project requirements at full output and a reduced flux to achieve the project requirements at the dimmed output.
“These flux values were compared to make sure that the most optimised solution was being offered to Derbyshire County Council.
“It was then a quick calculation to convert these flux values in to energy to make sure I was offering the most energy efficient solution possible.”
The new lighting maximises energy savings for Derbyshire and reduces maintenance, whilst also providing high quality illumination and carefully tailored light distribution.
Further savings will be made by dimming the lights in most locations to a maximum of 50% output between midnight and 5am.
With electricity prices rising, it is envisioned that the capital investment for the switch to LEDs could be paid back in just over eight years.
Lighting Reality develops real-time software for outdoor and street lighting, and is now established as the UK’s first choice among lighting manufacturers and local authorities for its dedicated solutions.
The Lighting Realty PRO software supports all major international standards, and is constantly evolved as these standards are upgraded.
First launched in 2001, Lighting Reality PRO is now used by around 97.5% of British councils and the company estimates that around 90% of lighting engineers in the UK own a copy.