"As lighting constitutes 20% of western societies' energy bills, it's a huge concern," explains James Millar, Greenled's managing director. "It's also an obvious starting place to begin saving energy. It uses electricity, is easily addressed and cost correlations are highly visible."
The level of interest the company received at the Energy Solutions Expo, held at London Olympia in October, was evidence of a genuine interest in the benefits offered by Greenled's LED lighting, the company reports. Enquiries came not only from CSR/energy management and carbon reduction specialists, but also from a large number of facilities managers; particularly those working in hospitality, looking for an alternative to halogen lighting.
"Some 90% of lighting power is lost through heat using halogen downlighters - a tremendous waste of energy," asserts Millar. "Considering that lights are on for much of the time in hotels, any saving is worth investigating. Additional utilities overheads and the time facilities managers spend on lighting maintenance have a corresponding cost. All things considered, a great deal of businesses are effectively haemorrhaging money on inefficient lighting systems, when they could already be saving."
Greenled is in talks with a number of businesses across the UK and Ireland, in addition to running product trials for a number of restaurant, bar and hotel chains including JD Wetherspoon, Radisson, Marriott and the Jurys Inns Hotel Group. Facilities management staff from these companies are trialling Greenled LEDs in a number of high energy usage areas: back offices, toilet facilities, bedrooms and corridors, and are seeing some compelling evidence.
"A trial in JD Wetherspoon's Waterend Bar in St. Albans is saving the company nearly £6.50 per day," says Millar. "Multiply that figure by 365 days and then by 700 pubs and the numbers speak for themselves."
(Jim Evans)
