Global logistics provider sees payback from LEDs in just over a year.
International company Kuehne + Nagel continually reduce impact on the environment.
Operating over 100 warehouses across the UK, the company recognised an opportunity to radically reduce its energy consumption by replacing the current lighting at its Minworth facility near Birmingham with a more energy efficient technology. In selecting LED technology as the solution, this facility was able to cut its energy needs and achieve additional savings on maintenance as well as vastlyimproving the quality of light for its workers.
Kuehne + Nagel’s Minworth facility consists of two warehouses with alinking area jointly covering 20,000 square metres. The older of the two buildings was fitted with 136 x 250W high pressure sodium lamps(HPS), the newer facility with 100 x 400W HPS and the linking bay with a few metal halides.
Engineering Manager Kevin Greene explains the lighting challenge: “Overall we wanted to save energy, but we also wanted to improve light quality. We found that the 250W HPS did not provide sufficient light quality in the older warehouse, which is why we moved to 400W HPS in the newer warehouse. However, they were actually averaging about 280W and 430W of power respectively. Also, sodium lights are not very effective at night and make it hard for the workers to read labels.”
He adds: “In our warehouses, the sodium lights are running 24/7 and need changing every 20,000 hours. A scissor lift is required to reach the mat 13 metres, which involves considerable cost, in evitable work interruption, and there is the additional problem of dealing with hazardous waste when you dispose of them. There were plenty of reasons to look for a more efficient lighting solution.”
After trialling some LED light fittings at several locations, Kevin Greene selected Dialight’s DuroSite™ Series LED High Bayfittings for the two Minworth warehouses, installing 63 x 150W LED High Bays in each with three to a row compared tofive HPS lights. The LED lighting in fact delivers a CRI of 72 compared to around 20 for HPS lightingout of a total scale of 100, so although the lux level of 150 remains very similar the lighting quality has vastly increased.
Installation Snapshot
- Two warehouses jointly covering 20,000 sqms
- Number of LED fittings – 126
- Replaced – 250W and 400W HPS with 150W LED High Bay
- Illuminance level – 150 lux
- Mounting height – 13 ms/43’
- Energy saving –555,735 kWh, saving over £42,000 annually
- Carbon reduction – 271 tonnes annually
- Average w/sqm reduced from 3.85 to 1.05
- Payback period of 1.1 years