Western Power Distribution set to save 35 tonnes of CO2 a year with innovative lighting upgrade
Western Power Distribution (WPD) is a busy operation, delivering electricity to more than 7.6 million customers over a 55,300 sq km service area, and it takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. Environmental care and protection is a key priority for the business and its highly successful “keen to be green” initiative, supports a range of community activities like tree-planting and energy conservation.
In an effort to improve energy-efficiency at its own Cwmbran site, WPD enlisted commercial lighting specialist, Litenow Limited, to upgrade 1,049 of its fluorescent lamps. A specialist in low-carbon retrofit technologies – Litenow was able to slot the replacement low-energy T5 lamps into the existing fittings at the WPD site.
Due to size and technical differences between the old-style fluorescent lamps and new T5 lamps, previous practice for upgrading energy-efficient lighting was often to replace all the light fittings – a wasteful approach to carbon reduction. However WPD was able to reduce energy use without the expense, waste and disruption of replacing the light fittings.
As a result of the project, WPD is expected to reduce its annual lighting energy consumption by 45%, saving 65,798 kWh of electricity every year. This translates to an annual cost saving of £8,480. The massive savings mean that the upgrade is projected to pay for itself in just 3 years and 2 months.
Mo Eshelby, WPD’s East Wales Distribution Manager explained:
Steve Hiscox, Managing Director of Litenow, comments: