Kirklees College in West Yorkshire is saving more than £8,000 a year on electricity bills after upgrading to the latest LED and T5 technologies from Tamlite Lighting.
With more than 20,000 students, the college has a high energy demand. So when the college’s Dewsbury campus was looking to reduce its energy consumption, upgrading the lighting was a must. It was crucial, however, that the quality of light did not suffer.
“We were really looking to achieve a triple whammy,” comments Ian Richardson, Estates Manager at Kirklees College. “Better light, lower maintenance, and cheaper to run, due to greater energy efficiency. We knew that we wanted very energy-efficient products. However, we also had specific demands for colour rendering, to be sure the new products gave off a clean, white light that reproduced colours faithfully.
“We’d had a good experience with Tamlite products in the past,” continues Mr Richardson, “and our local CEF supplier always gives excellent service. I was able to visit Tamlite’s showrooms and factory in Redditch, to get a true idea of the quality of the products.”
The college carried out an extensive overhaul of the lighting across its Dewsbury Centre. This involved installing 578 low-energy lighting products in classrooms, offices and corridors.
Balancing energy saving with light quality
The installation included more than 100 MOD-LED panels, featuring a 600 x 600mm profile and the latest LED technology to achieve a typical lifespan of 50,000 hours. Fitted with an opal diffuser and LEDs with a colour rendering index of 75 Ra, the LED panels balance energy saving with excellent light quality.
Elsewhere, the college opted for low-energy T5 fluorescent lighting, installing the EXCEL range of recessed modules. As an energy-saving advance on old-style parabolic louvres, which produced ‘tunnel effect’ lighting, the new-generation EXCEL range benefits from soft cut off, due to mix of diffuser and white trim around the louvre.
The college has lowered its energy bills by £8,385 a year, which equates to an annual carbon saving of 48.6 tonnes of CO2.
“We’re very happy to have achieved such substantial energy savings,” says Ian Richardson of Kirklees College. “Staff have commented that they like the new lighting. And the service we’ve received from Tamlite and CEF has been excellent.”
