New lighting design for logistics building saves energy and CO2
Safety engineering specialist EUCHNER has modernized the lighting system for its two-storey logistics building in Leinfelden near Stuttgart. This enabled the company to cut energy consumption by nearly half and save 10.2 metric tons of CO2.
EUCHNER’s corporate philosophy covers everything from protecting the environment and handling natural resources with consideration to reducing energy consumption and using low-pollutant materials. The company continuously puts these values into practice at its production locations. This is why one of the logistics buildings recently received a new lighting system: EUCHNER replaced the old fluorescent tubes with modern LEDs and installed an optimized lighting control system. “This step will reduce the building’s annual energy consumption by around 27,700 kilowatt-hours and save around 10.2 tons of CO2 emissions per year,” says a pleased Lorenz Fohmann, who is responsible for building services and energy management at EUCHNER. “This corresponds to a CO2 equivalent of 20 round-trip flights between Frankfurt am Main and Mallorca or driving a car around the globe 1.3 times.”
Better lighting plus optimized energy efficiency
With a floor space of almost 3,000 square meters, the two-storey logistics building in Leinfelden was a good candidate for savings. The building houses an automated small-parts store with a capacity of 14,000 storage containers for safety switches and other products awaiting shipment around the world. The company operates in two shifts, and the small windows admit only little daylight into the rooms. This meant artificial lighting was needed for many hours per day. “We first calculated how much light was actually required and then optimized the lighting for the individual areas,” explains Fohmann. The result was astounding: “We were able to improve the lighting despite halving the number of lamps, and could reduce our energy consumption by around 43 percent,” says Fohmann. “The new lights are also much more efficient, which is shown by the area-specific lighting power. Here our superb characteristic value of 4.4 watts per square meter is significantly less than the average of 9 watts per square meter for a comparable building.”
Acting responsibly and sustainably is at the heart of everything EUCHNER does. “We are always working on ways to minimize our energy consumption and enhance our company’s energy efficiency,” stresses managing director Stefan Euchner. “We’ve recently implemented numerous projects to protect the environment and save energy at our locations. Converting the lighting system in the logistic building is another important step on this path.“
