Articles and whitepapers

Going Green: Energy Efficiency through Lighting and More - an Industrial Example to the Home Market (4/1/2010)

By Stephen Calder, Niko (UK)

Niko is Belgium's leading manufacturer of lighting products and home automation systems, and has a factory and company headquarters based in Sint Niklaas. It is a family company with clear ideas about its responsibility to its employees, its customers, its community and the environment. The old Niko headquarters, with outdated offices that had less than ideal aspects, were in urgent need of a facelift, so it was decided that the old building had to be completely renovated to provide a pleasant working environment as well as significant savings on the energy bill.

The site is enormous and the new building had to integrate seamlessly into the existing manufacturing structure behind. In order to reduce the company's carbon footprint, significant investment was made in solar energy production and rainwater harvesting, using the latest grass roofing technology. The company's energy efficient products have been integrated to provide a constant level of light in meeting rooms automatically; and together with motion sensors in public spaces, achieve minimum energy usage.

The Niko headquarters, in front of the Niko factory.

Lighting

Intelligent sensors monitor movements and light intensity in all of the rooms where work is carried out during the day, and these sensors switch the lights on and off when necessary, using the company's Daylight Control system. This ensures the ambient light is constantly monitored in a room to provide a consistent level of light, no matter the time of day or amount of natural light available. The lights burn at one hundred percent only if that is absolutely necessary. The light sensor automatically switches on lights in the areas furthest away from natural light whenever the ambient light reduces, for example as clouds cover the sun. When the sun shines brightly and the natural light level is lifted, the lights are automatically dimmed. The lights nearest the windows have their own monitoring system to ensure that the light level in a room is the same regardless of proximity to natural daylight.

With the automated lighting system, it is impossible for absent-minded people to leave the lights on by accident anywhere, and if a room needs to be brighter or dimmer, the switches on the wall can always be used to readjust, but all lighting systems in the building are programmed to switch off at 10pm automatically, to ensure no wastage of energy.

The automated lighting ensures a constant level of light, with manual override possible through wall switches.

LEDs galore

In addition to saving energy and costs using automatic lighting controls, the Niko factory employs LED lighting in a variety of places and applications to make even bigger savings on both. Almost every ray of light in the new Niko building comes from LEDs, which are more efficient than traditional lamps. There are kilometres of Niko LEDs in the building, and in the car park and around the reception desk there are RGB standard LEDs. The large glass section on top of the building is illuminated by high-powered RGB LEDs, and there are standard white LEDs in the cloakrooms, in the facade outside at the entrance to the building, and on the sides of the bridge leading to the entrance.

The LEDs in the Niko building not only save a lot of money, they have been designed to be beautiful. Using the Nikobus home automation system and a new RGB controller, the reception desk lighting constantly changes colour as do the LEDs in the car park and in the glass section of the building. On the front face of the building, the large Niko sign is programmed to change colour constantly after dusk, and so gradually that it does not distract drivers on the passing motorway.

The Niko sign gradually changes colour at night.

Savings from on high

Niko has 4367 solar panels on the roof. These provide as much as 800,000kWh of electricity, which approximately corresponds to the monthly energy consumption of the building. Furthermore, a grass roof has been planted outside the top-storey meeting rooms and hospitality areas. This not only provides a pleasant view, by using a system of filters and reservoirs it provides efficient temperature control of the building as it is a natural insulator, keeping the building underneath cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The rainwater runoff is cleaned and harvested for use in the lavatories in the building, and the natural photosynthesis of the plants helps remove carbon from the atmosphere.

The top of the factory with solar panels and grass roof.

Sensors

Within the building, Niko has introduced two types of motion sensors: sensors using traditional IR technology and highly-advanced sensors that use ultrasonic technology. This sensor technology is a combination of passive IR and ultrasonic technology. The infrared system switches the light on, but it is not so sensitive that the light will go on if a bit of dust floats by. The ultrasonic technology, which is much more sensitive, is used to keep the light switched on, and works rather like the sensory system of a bat; sending out inaudible sounds and by way of their echo, detects the objects in its path. In this way, the sensors also 'listen' to whether there is someone in the office or the meeting room. Of course, that person must move. But the sensors accurately register movements of as little as two centimetres. So, typing or writing is enough to keep the light on. Ultrasonic technology is much more sensitive than traditional presence and motion detectors, and ensures that when the room is occupied, the lights stay on, and when the room empties, they switch off.

Programming

Such a large project required a great deal of installation work, but the programming was straightforward. The equipment throughout the entire building was set up in a couple of days, and now the programming and the management of the system for the whole building are controlled by the company's maintenance personnel from one location. Should a change need to be made, temporarily or permanently, say for an evening event, the receptionist simply informs the maintenance department and they adjust the programming with a couple of clicks.

Strength in flexibility

As the company continues to develop and grow, changes and upgrades are inevitable. This system is surprisingly flexible, and allows a meeting room to be turned into an office space, or corridor into a showroom. All that is required is a call to the maintenance department and they will change the functions of the buttons and the control panels. The automation system is also designed to expand as the company grows, without requiring rewiring or more construction.

Conclusion

The Niko building was designed to feel welcoming and friendly, while employing solar energy, green grass roofing, sensors and LED lighting to be energy efficient, without compromising on the comfort or convenience of the people who work there.

As a functioning office building it is a delight. Workers entering the building are coming to a place where they can be focussed on their work and inspired by their environment. The building is attracting visitors, who are inspired by the design and feel of the building, and who are looking for a similar solution to their requirements for their environment, workplace and home.

Stephen Calder is the Sales Director of Niko (UK) Limited. Niko is the leading Belgian manufacturer of home automation and lighting control solutions.

www.niko.be