A series of free nationwide seminars are to be held this year to help commercial building owners and tenants reduce their lighting bills ahead of winter.
The information sessions began in late March in Christchurch and will be held in other centres this month.
There are separate seminars for designers, engineers and architects, and corporate tenants and facilities managers.
“There have been significant leaps in the past decade as lighting technology shifted from analogue to digital,” says executive officer of the Energy Management Association of New Zealand Ewan Gebbie.
The association and the Energy Efficiency Conservation Agency (EECA) are launching the free seminars in a bid to help landlords and tenants as part of EECA’s Commercial Sector Efficiency Lighting Programme.
Recent advances include daylight harvesting, where lights automatically adjust in response to the amount of daylight in a space, saving energy and money.
“Lighting costs in commercial buildings account for between 30-50 percent of electricity used in commercial buildings,” says Mr Gebbie.
“We want to bring everyone up to speed on the shift from analogue to digital lighting and lighting control systems.
“Research has shown that there is a big gap in knowledge and understanding of the opportunities to use lighting control systems that include daylight harvesting, occupancy sensors and time switches.
“Timers have come of age and buildings in Wellington and Auckland could save hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, by installing such technology.
“Some people have been put off by the early poor experiences of those technologies, but there is now a very sophisticated set of solutions out there and we are encouraging people to take another look,” he says.
“These seminars will provide those interested with the latest information around commercial lighting technologies and commercial arrangements.
“There has been considerable interest shown already so it is important that people register early in order to secure a place at these seminars.”
Bill Brander, EECA lighting programme manager says there is a lot of potential for savings for both a company and the economy as a whole.
For more information:
Jenny Walton
Tel: 04 385 2838
Email: [email protected]
Visit: www.emanz.org.nz
