Lighting finance scheme reduces costs with no capital outlay
Cost savings of over £12 000 a year are being achieved by Ritrama, a manufacturer of adhesive materials in Eccles, without any capital outlay using Chalmor’s LifeSaver scheme to upgrade lighting and controls. After three years, when the capital cost has been repaid, annual cost savings will increase to £90 000. The scheme finances refurbishment projects for which repayments are less than the savings achieved.
The LifeSaver scheme was used to improve the quality and responsiveness of lighting in the Eccles factory and reduce carbon footprint at the same time.
650 existing SON (high-pressure sodium) fittings in the factory were replaced with 420 Chalmor Brilliance high-output long-life fittings to reduce the installed electrical load by 136 kW.
The new lighting is linked to Chalmor AutoLux lighting controllers, providing presence detection and daylight modulation. The enhanced control is expected to reduce the lighting’s running hours by about 40% and achieve an annual energy saving of over 1400 MWh.
Further savings are achieved through reduced maintenance costs. Relamping was costing nearly £10 000 a year, whereas the Brilliance fittings are unlikely to require relamping for seven years. The combination of reduced energy and maintenance costs will ultimately provide Ritrama with a total annual saving of over £90 000 a year.
