Natures Way Foods (NWF) has installed a new LED lighting installation at its Runcton site that saves the equivalent electricity usage of 160 homes annually.
The new lighting system, which was developed in conjunction with a local lighting specialist, was fitted in the Runcton site at the end of 2015.
Plans to roll this project out to NWF’s two other sites are underway, and it is hoped that this will allow the business to meet the Government’s Climate Change Levy five years early.
Richard Sellis, head of engineering at NWF, said: “Electricity is vital to our production process. We have 1,030 lights across the three sites and 90 per cent of the electricity consumed is via the same light fitting. It made sense to develop an alternative lighting system that could easily be retrofitted into the existing light fittings.
“Over the last several years we have tested different types of technologies, but with limited success. This year we decided to develop our own solution. The result was a LED light array and control system that could be retro-fitted into the existing light housing and powered off the existing infrastructure.”
The replacement lighting was constructed from a number of light-emitting diode (LED) arrays. The LEDs have a lifespan approximately five times that of a metal halide lamp. They also have the added advantage of coming to full brightness without the need for a warm-up time, and their light levels don’t degrade over time, or by being switched on and off.
The project is estimated to yield return on investment within 14 months, and once fitted at all NWF sites, is expected to provide a 10 per cent reduction in energy usage across the business.
Having recently achieved the ISO 50001 international standard for energy efficiency, NWF plans to invest a further £250,000 in energy reduction projects during 2016.
