Industry 4.0 – Episode 5: limiting the use of artificial lighting

Your building depends on artificial lighting and this often accounts for a significant proportion of your electrical energy consumption. As it represents a major expense for businesses, they are looking for ways to minimize it. In addition, the European Energy Efficiency of Buildings Regulations (infos) will move automatic lighting systems from being an accessory to being a requirement.

Use artificial lighting only when it’s needed

At Alpha Innovations, we decided to monitor and control the use of artificial lighting and maximize the use of natural light. How do we do this? With our software solution, Compas, coupled with sensors installed throughout the company building. We divided the warehouse and workshop into zones according to their occupancy levels. The script developed by our team allows us to collect the data and automatically activate/deactivate the artificial lighting according to :

• The time of day: automatic mode is activated at 6.30am when the first employees arrive and is deactivated at 5pm to switch to manual mode.
• The level of luminosity of the zone: as some zones are less used than others, each zone has its own set point defining when the artificial light should be used.

It is of course possible to switch to manual mode when necessary but its use should be limited. After one hour, it automatically switch back to automatic mode.

What’s in it for you?

First, with our solution, it is not necessary to change the bulbs in the building, nor the switches… You just keep your actual infrastructure. Therefore, you reduce the carbon impact without having to throw away lamps that are still working and replace them with LEDs. Moreover, by managing your lighting efficiently, you save on your energy bill, as daylighting uses natural sunlight instead of artificial lighting and therefore consumes much less electricity. In addition, daylighting has been proven to increase productivity in the workplace and improve employee health. Finally, it is better for the environment because you use your energy more efficiently, favoring natural resources!

A revolution? Not really but…

In this article we are talking about a luminosity sensor. Obviously, monitoring this equipment is no incredible achievement, but what would you do if you had a dozen sensors and parameters to monitor, whatever their brands? If this is your case, consider Compas: you will have a single interface to have an overview of several equipment!

Curious to know what else we can do with Compas?

Go to Compas page