Smart lights, big savings at the Richmond Library

In March this year the old lighting system we had in the Richmond Library, Northampton General Hospital was replaced by new programmable "smart lights" that respond to things around them. Using movement sensors they turn themselves off after a set amount of time when there is no activity. Likewise, as soon as someone goes near a sensor they turn back on in banks.

They also detect the amount of ambient light, so on a bright day they will dim down to reduce consumption, or even turn off entirely.

Our old lights were never switched off (except those in staff areas after hours) and we did have some concerns that as a 24/7 library where people sit quietly and read, our users might suddenly find themselves in darkness.

However, it takes hardly any movement at all to make the lights come on and this has not been a problem as far as we are aware.

What is clear though, is the substantial impact the installation has had on the consumption of electricity in the William Kerr Building.




In  comparison with the previous year, we have seen a 38% reduction in consumption since April. Given all the computers we have and everything else, this is a very significant drop.

We are very pleased we are able to do out bit to save the NHS money whilst reducing (albeit in a small way) our carbon footprint (even more so because the vendor, Thorlux Lighting offset all the carbon emissions for the production and marketing of their products).