Specialist in low carbon retrofit technologies, Energys Group, is launching Save It Easy® ‘Eco-Switch’, a replacement starter fuse for switch-start fluorescent lamps. It works with Energys’s existing Save It Easy range to save even more energy by giving the option of lighting different parts of the room to different levels.
In the past, lighting was either switched ‘on’ or ‘off’, but now the Save It Easy ‘Eco-Switch’ offers a carbon-saving third option. This simple replacement starter fuse allows non-vital lamps within a room to remain switched off unless staff choose to switch them on. Unlike some of the more complex control systems, the Eco-Switch is controlled directly by the building’s users and offers them both flexibility and choice, which in turn ensures that the best use is made of the energy saving options.
Many organisations waste energy by keeping parts of their buildings ‘over-lit’. A workspace close to a sunny window has no need of a light directly above it, for example. Previously, the only solution to this type of energy waste was to invest in expensive sensors and building control technology.
However, the Eco-Switch provides a new solution that doesn’t require any wiring modification or expensive capital investment. The Eco-Switch, which works exclusively with the Save It Easy range of retrofit fluorescent lighting converters, simply replaces the starter fuse. The device is designed to suit switch-start fluorescent lamps and is simple enough to self-install.
When staff enter a room and flick the light switch, the Eco-Switch in place allows the lighting system to automatically power up in ‘energy saving mode’. This means that only lamps that have been specified to be ‘always on’ (those in areas where a high level of illumination is always required) switch on, while the rest remain switched off. If a staff member decides they require more lighting, they simply flick the switch once more and all the lamps in the room light up.
The Eco-Switch can be used with single fluorescent lamp fittings or in ‘multi-lamp’ fittings (e.g. 2ft quad fittings), where the Eco-Switch specifies whether one, two, three or all four lamps light up.
Kevin Cox, Technical Director of Energys Group, comments: “Existing customers of Save It Easy – which allows energy-efficient switch-start fluorescent lamps to be slotted into the existing light fittings – already enjoy lighting energy savings of up to 65%. Now the Eco-Switch unlocks the potential for even greater energy savings, by removing the problem of over-lit areas. Even better, the Eco-Switch is simple enough to be self-installed.”
