Kiwi ingenuity and creativity come to the fore to light up efficiently

Kiwi ingenuity and creativity are coming to the fore to turn the drive for energy-efficiency into profitable business opportunities, as well as contributing to a reduction of  the pressures on our national grid and thereby our carbon output. In this edition we cover the very different approaches of three organisations – two local and one international – with their own approach and focus through power saving, “plug-and-play” energy management and the broader release of a new invention out of Christchurch. The Christchurch designed commercial light fixture, which claims to deliver power savings of over 40 percent is set to make a big impact on New Zealand energy consumption, thanks to the development of an off the shelf model which has attracted support from the Electricity Commission. High Five has an ambitious target of reducing energy consumption by New Zealand businesses by 11Gwh per annum – enough to power more than 1,300 New Zealand homes for a year. On the global front, Dynalite has unveiled a lighting energy management system specifically designed to meet energy-efficiency and sustainability objectives in commercial building environments – the Ecolinx. It provides a fully scalable end-to-end distributed lighting control system, specifically designed to regulate lighting levels via ballast-controlled luminaires used in commercial environments. Significantly, its high-frequency ballast controller supports three popular ballast control and monitoring broadcast protocols – 1 to 10V analogue control, DSI and DALI – all in a single unit. Albany-based PowerSave Light, under new ownership for the last three years, is specifically targeting traditional industrial installations looking to cut their power bills, given the fact they usually constitute some 30 percent of any large 24/7 operation. “We are delivering real solutions in an almost ‘unreal timeframe’ with a pragmatic focus on power saving products which use existing fittings and deliver bottom-line returns to organisations in less than a year, something people initially find almost impossible to comprehend. But I can assure you they are real,” co-director, Grant Simpson says. The fact they have already captured the attention and commitment from organisations like Fonterra and other large organisations, with some massive multi-nationals already at the planning stages, says they have caught the energy-saving wave. He is particularly focused on the results being generated by their online energy-savings calculator which offers an immediate and accurate estimate of potential energy savings to be derived using PowerSave products, ranging across conversion kits and new fittings from 65W to 200W, as well as 24 models of industrial grade CFL lamps, from 25W to 200W. Simpson is picking up a rapidly growing number of warehouse and distribution centre financial controllers entering the number of existing light fittings in their establishments, their wattage, hours of operation and the kilowatt/hour rate they are paying. Moments after the calculator automatically produces annual cost savings, the load reduction in amps, not to mention carbon savings and the number of months – not years – it will take to pay for the upgrade out of energy savings, the phones start ringing in the sales department. It’s hardly surprising as Simpson says the Fonterra Research Centre in Palmerston North can anticipate recovering the capital cost of their lighting upgrade in as little as eight months – from the energy savings alone. That doesn’t include the benefits of superior non-glare illumination either. PowerSave covers the field from high wattage industrial HIF lamps and ballast conversion kits for high-bay and low-bay fittings and energy saver floodlighting, as well as providing a range of high wattage self-ballasted lamps which simply screw in to replace up to 500W mercury-vapour self-ballasted lamps. Lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, has launched what they are calling a unique ‘plug-and-play’ lighting energy management solution targeted at commercial environments – the Ecolinx solution. It looks to “leverage the labour-saving and flexibility of structured wiring connectivity” to provide luminaire-by-luminaire dimming and on/off lighting control for the widest range of commercial environments, from small offices to campus-sized installations. “Energy efficiency and sustainable design are no longer options in the commercial building domain; they are absolute essentials,” says Laurence Coote, sales director Dynalite. “The Ecolinx – with its highly granular luminaire control and monitoring functionality, plus powerful installation flexibility and scalability – is an important new tool in this quest. It has been designed to ‘empower’ commercial building owners and occupiers to achieve truly effective lighting energy management strategies and sustained demand reduction.”    The basic building-block of the system is the Dynalite DBC905 high-frequency ballast controller – a versatile lighting control module which boasts nine separate, structured wiring, lighting circuit output channels. With a 35mm cross-section, the compact DBC905 is housed in a robust and highly-visible green thermoplastic enclosure. Output channels are available in either the Wieland or modular wiring/CMS Electracom connector formats. The Ecolinx is based on Dynalite’s well-established “distributed control” philosophy, where control intelligence is distributed about the network in a modular fashion and linked via its peer-to-peer communications serial bus network, DyNet. The DBC905’s DyNet connectivity supports “powerful design flexibility and scalability” that cover the building occupancy lifecycle. As a result, the Ecolinx system has the inbuilt flexibility to meet the needs of the building occupants and their ever-changing interior space requirements.

All wiring connections to the DBC905 – whether mains input, lighting circuit outputs, or the unit’s total of 10 control and network inputs – are facilitated by tool-free structured wiring ports. “This ‘plug-and-play’ approach permits installation and post-commissioning adaptation of any Ecolinx lighting system to be carried out quickly and easily by semi-skilled or unskilled crews, providing optimal flexibility, speedy deployment and significant installation and maintenance labour savings over the life of the building, particularly in high labour-cost markets,” Coote says. All nine DBC905 output channels can be individually and independently software configured to one of three popular ballast control and monitoring broadcast protocols – 1 to 10V analogue control, digital serial interface (DSI), or digital addressable lighting interface (DALI).  Claims Coote: “This inherent flexibility of broadcast protocol provides enormous advantages over competing HF ballast controllers, where a change in broadcast protocol demands a completely different piece of hardware. “Now, designers and developers can postpone deciding on the lighting system broadcast protocol to the very last minute. Indeed, it permits a building’s lighting system to evolve from protocol-to-protocol – say from analogue ‘1 to 10V’ to a DALI system – as and when the need arises.” The Ecolinx system boasts DALI-like granularity of luminaire control and monitoring, without the complexity and heavy reliance on skilled trades typically associated with a full DALI system. The lighting system’s dimming and on/off status is controlled either on a luminaire-by-luminaire basis or in unison across soft-patched control groups. It also supports DALI back-channel interrogation and monitoring of ballast diagnostics. By relying on the distributed intelligence resident in the DBC905 rather than the ballast itself, complex re-enumeration and rebinding of ballasts are avoided in post-commissioning ballast/luminaire change outs. And finally, the well-anticipated good news from Christchurch that the award winning energy-efficient High Five fixture which has, until now, only been available for one-off projects – mainly for owners or occupiers of warehouses, distribution centres and manufacturing plants – is to be available off-the-shelf. The company also has an ambitious target of reducing energy consumption by New Zealand businesses by 11Gwh per annum – enough to power more than 1,300 New Zealand homes for a year. High Five luminaires are designed and manufactured in Christchurch by Energylight Ltd a New Zealand owned company and are a certified “Buy New Zealand made product”. High Five products have been installed in over 20 projects in the last 12 months in New Zealand and a breakthrough sale in Australia. These include the Mystery Creek events centre in Palmerston North; DHL and Fedex Christchurch depots; Foodstuffs distribution centres in Christchurch and Palmerston North; and Hydraulink in Pukekohe – winner of the Illumination Engineering Society (IES) energy efficiency award. “These customers are already reaping the rewards of lower energy costs through efficient lighting,” says Sustainable Lighting Solutions’ James Duder, the company charged with marketing High Five. “The proven benefits and potential of the High Five are huge. “The building occupier can save thousands of dollars while improving the working environment. Also, the lights can be switched on and off whenever the user likes, unlike current high-bay light sources. “While our product still costs slightly more than competing, less-efficient fixtures, the energy savings possible with ours would mean a payback of the difference in less than six months for warehouse owners, who then continue to save money for years to come.” Three years in development, the High Five Luminaire fixture has received a “highly commended” award at the IES design awards. “R Redpath Ltd of Christchurch partnered with Energylight Ltd in late 2008 to make a proposal to the Electricity Commission and both organisations are an example of how two New Zealand-owned companies can work in partnership using their specific expertise to bring an energy-efficient, breakthrough product to the market,” Duder says. At the time the Electricity Commission recognised the power-saving capabilities of High Five fixtures; it noted that its granting a subsidy would accelerate the uptake by businesses through reducing the upfront cost barriers of the product. It will no doubt be pleased too that an increase in demand for High Five products, through the programme, has created additional employment in the region.