Wolseley UK and Cloudfm light the way for energy savings

Wolseley UK, distributor of plumbing and building materials and products, has announced energy savings of over £90k thanks to recent lighting renovations in its national distribution centre.

The savings come from an overhaul of Wolseley UK’s lighting infrastructure inside and outside its main Leamington Spa-based warehouse and surrounding offices. Supported by facilities management company Cloudfm, the quality and quantity of lighting displayed was assessed to look for alternatives in order to reduce energy usage and minimise the amount of maintenance needed.
 
The main focus of the initiative Cloudfm introduced was to change all the lights from typical T5 fluorescent tubes to intelligent digital LED luminaires. In total the team, lead by Director of Technical Consultancy, Derrick Hidden and Energy Manager, Brendon Airey, removed 2692 fittings and installed just 616 new LED lights into the warehouse.

This initial development was expected to produce a return of £8,000 in energy savings per month. While this was a positive start, Cloudfm investigated further and introduced a reactive element to the lights to reduce energy wastage further. This technology incorporates environment sensors, which utilise natural light to subsidise their own brightness levels. The intelligent design, together with the ability to anticipate movement in the warehouse, was able to produce estimated savings of a further £5,000. In total, Wolseley UK now saves £13,000 per month in energy costs - roughly enough electricity to power 303 homes every year.

The whole project has been measured and audited in accordance with the government’s Electricity Demand Reduction (EDR) project, and the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Just 18 companies, including Network Rail, BAE Systems and Tata Steel UK, met the criteria for the EDR scheme, which awarded Wolseley UK £50,000 towards the LED project.

Wolseley UK’s National Distribution Centre’s annual kWh savings equate to approximately 1 megawatt, giving the lighting investment a payback period of just 3.75 years. Grid electricity demand is also expected to reduce by 236,000 kWh during the months of November to February, between the hours of 4pm to 8pm.

www.cloudfmgroup.com