Magnet, specialist in the supply, implementation and support of electrical equipment and industrial instrumentation, last year completed a lighting upgrade project for Dulux, to reduce energy consumption, load and associated costs at the company’s Umbogintwini plant in KwaZulu-Natal.
Brian Howarth, managing director of Magnet says, “Phase 1 of the project involved the design and installation of a new energy-efficient lighting system to deliver electrical performance and energy savings within 10% of calculated predictions. In some cases, the calculated savings have been exceeded.
“The installation included replacement, retrofitting and re-lamping and also met key objectives in terms of enhanced safety, timeous installation, quality of fittings and cost efficiency.
“A 47.3% reduction in kilowatts as well a 50.4% saving in kilowatt-hours provided for the estimated savings to be achieved,” he explains.
The lighting upgrade extended through certain areas of the engineering workshop, raw material stores, packaging stores, filling hall, holding area and the national warehouse.
As a pilot initiative, occupancy sensors and day-night sensors were installed in the aisles of the raw material stores and in the bulk bag area to control the activation of the lights. Occupancy sensors were also installed in the holding area.
In addition to saving energy the new fluorescent fittings installed to replace the high pressure sodium lamps in the national warehouse also offer other benefits, such as an improved colour rendition index and reduced maintenance requirements. These fittings have a three-year service life compared to about 18 months for the previous light fittings.
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