Higher visual comfort = higher employee performance!

The topic of savings in commercial buildings now represents one of the top priorities of all operators of commercial buildings. But in fact, saving costs in operations also make it possible to achieve better comfort and higher employee performance. 

Visual comfort goes hand in hand with ‘non-invasive’ lighting control, without the need for complex reconstructions. It can be achieved by a simple installation of lights with wireless control and utilization of natural sunlight in the building during the day. Commercial buildings are usually more than 50% glazed. Employees don’t need to worry about setting the lighting intensity withing the working area. Everything is done on their behalf by a wireless lighting control system, which is additionally installed without the need for cabling with illuminance sensors and presence monitoring at the workplace. 

Hybrid work has changed offices

Offices are developing by pushing the boundaries between work, living and co-living, which requires a radical examination of traditional office lighting installations, this being especially due to the upswing of hybrid work. Wireless lighting control has proven to play a really huge role in providing flexible, highly attractive administrative premises that offer superior user experience, less energy waste and better employee well-being and productivity. Combined with daylight and occupancy detection, intelligent lighting control can save significant amount of energy in offices by ensuring that the right light is used when necessary. These systems can be easily controlled by switches, sensors or mobile applications. 

Example No. 1: Donaldson Filtration Solutions offices, Kadaň

The need to replace cassette strip lights (which are no longer available for sale in the EU) came only 15 years after the start of operation. It involved 600 sq m of offices (two open space areas with a corridor + 10 offices, two meeting rooms) and car park and loading area lighting that was secured by street lighting. 196 lamps were replaced with a retrofit completion of the original Synergis Lighting_Control wiring with lighting automation and control of office lighting: 

• The light from the windows was used because the building was 50% glazed.
• Dimming was controlled in accordance with daily increase in light. 
• The seven-fold increase in the price of electricity brought about the need to reduce the seven-fold higher costs of the original lighting. 

The nominal consumption was reduced by around 58% in exchange for 196 LED recessed PROLUMIA Pro-Office DALI lighting fixtures with UGR<16 with the best visual comfort in the market.and additional consumption was reduced to 120 installed LED lighting fixtures by another 40% thanks to automated control using the Synergis Lighting_Control by Casambi technology. Dimming was set using light and presence sensors that regulate the performance of the lighting fixtures. The automation of lighting schedules was set in accordance with the presence of people in the 50% glazed offices. 

And the result?

The qualified estimate of savings using active control was around CZK 425,000 per year, while the acquisition costs for this ‘retrofit’ control system were around CZK 380,000.

After adding up the savings, Donaldson Kadaň came close to the original lighting costs with a huge shift in employee visual comfort and increased employee performance thanks to the extremely low lighting factor of the lighting fixtures under UGR<16. 

Example No. 2: Control room of the hydroelectrical power station Střekov – ČEZ Renewable resources: 

It was expected for the lighting comfort to improve when the colour temperature of the lighting changed during the day. The lighting of the control room with 24/7 operation was replaced by fully automatic controllable lights in accordance with the circadian rhythm depending on the time of day for better visual comfort with PROLUMIA Pro-Office TW (tunable white) lights. Autonomous control of the circadian rhythm and dimming was set up using the Synergis Lighting_Control.

Industrial premises are one of the more complex types of buildings to light. Energy consumption for lighting industrial facilities, especially industrial warehouses and storage areas, belongs to the highest ones (46 kWh/sq m per year), therefore it is very important to reduce operation and maintenance costs when the energy savings are being increased. Production halls are premises that can mostly operate 24/7, which means that energy-saving lighting fixtures and more efficient use of daylight are beneficial not only for energy saving, but also for improving visual conditions and the overall well-being of employees.  

Example No. 3: Production premises of Jakob Müller AG – Czech Republic 

After 15 years of operation, the company needed to replace their strip lighting with approximately 200 PROLUMIA Retrofit II LED lights. There they used incident light from skylights measured by wireless motion/light sensors with optics used in high-altitudes. Autonomous zonal Lighting_Control of individual workplaces was modified using lighting dimming according to shifts and the needs of individual production departments from the warehouse, welding room to quality control of all production areas in accordance with the set Luxes in workplaces came to 200 to 750 Luxes. 

Thanks to this change, 77% of the original costs are saved during daily operation. 

Advantages of the Synergis solution for building operations: 

• energy efficiency and sustainability, 
• data and connectivity, occupancy control, 
• no need for Internet connection for daily operation, 
• reduction of operating costs, 
• wireless emergency lighting with automatic testing and reporting, 
• trouble-free installation, easy way of being put into operation.

What to say in conclusion?

Today’s modern office and industrial buildings need a different approach to lighting; it should be flexible, adaptable to changing functions and user preferences, and energy efficient. Lighting is the largest endpoint of electricity consumption in European offices accounting for 40% of all electricity consumption. Intelligent lighting control can save up to 60% of energy in offices when combined with daylight, while occupancy detection can save up to 44% in comparison with an installation without sensors.

What is also important is the functionality for the end user; a recent study states that 33% of office workers said that they would like to adjust their ceiling and desk lighting to the level of incoming daylight. Giving workers individual control over lighting, which is also required by green building certification schemes such as LEED and BREEAM, can easily be achieved by installing the wireless Synergis Light_Control in all, even already existing buildings. 

Richard Jílek, Photo: Synergis archive