Green Economy client, Colin Hulme, Director of Ligero Design, talks about the role that lighting plays in the net zero transition.
Ligero Design is a manufacturer and designer of bespoke, energy saving LED lighting solutions for industrial, commercial and architectural projects. The business prides itself on helping clients to do better by the planet, as well as make significant cost savings and deliver better lighting conditions for building occupants.
We’re not just a traditional ‘buy-and-sell’ lighting company. I’m from a design background, so we’re able to offer a more bespoke service to our customers. When visiting a site, we do a full cost savings analysis, taking into account not just the customers’ existing light fittings and power output, but also the lighting levels and colour temperatures that work best for different tasks and areas in the building.
We also make sure we’re right at the forefront of the latest technology. The light engines in our lamps can be individually programmed, so each light is finetuned to its own specific requirements. Once installed we can continue to tweak it through a mobile app, so there is minimal disruption to customers if something needs to change.
LED lighting is one of the most cost-effective methods of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions in a building, as well as being one of the easiest. For most customers it’s as simple as unplugging the old fittings and replacing them with new ones. The impact is immediate – as soon as you turn the lights on you are saving money and reducing carbon.
The net zero agenda completely aligns with what we’re about as a business. When we speak to customers we always make it clear that our passion is about helping the planet, not just reducing energy bills. A portion of every project we complete is now donated to tree planting or other carbon reduction projects across the world through an organisation called Ecologi, so customers know that their lighting doesn’t just help them, but others around the globe.
We’re seeing more and more businesses following this ethos. For example, we recently completed a lighting project for a customer aiming for a net zero building. They had LED fittings already, but they were nowhere near as efficient as what is available on the market today. We were able to halve the number of fittings without affecting lighting quality and introduce sensors and zoning, so there is now considerably less energy being used.
It’s not just about energy and carbon savings. Correct lighting conditions are proven to improve people’s performance and satisfaction at work because the circadian rhythm of our bodies reacts to light. That’s why it’s important for businesses to have a proactive lighting maintenance programme in place and think about the amount and type of lighting they need for different activities.
We took on a new unit adjacent to our current site in 2021 because we were starting to get very cramped, so now we’ve got more space for storage and manufacturing and we’re looking to automate more of our manufacturing process. We’re also launching a separate brand for our architectural and interior lighting, so we will soon have two brands running alongside each other.
