Work to replace lights at Kendal’s Westmorland Shopping Centre multi-storey car park is now complete.
A new energy efficient LED lighting system has been installed, part of Westmorland and Furness Council’s drive towards becoming net zero by 2037.
Work began in September and was completed in phases.
The authority said the existing lighting levels were below modern standards and the new lighting has been designed to reduce glare and shadows.
By using sensors to detect when different areas of the car park are in use, the new lighting is set to make significant reductions in energy costs, consumption and CO2, it added.
Three lighting levels are used; instant full output when a moving vehicle or person is detected, which then drops to 10% of full output after three minutes when no movement is detected, and finally after another two minutes of no movement the lights will turn off completely.
Sectional lighting is also grouped into batches through Bluetooth programming and neighbour functioning, which means a batch of lights will illuminate in a connected sequence as you walk (or drive) through the space.
In the perimeter areas of the car park, light fittings are programmed to save even more energy by daylight harvesting – using natural light from the open sides of the car park. When natural light exceeds a programmed threshold that meets the required safety standards, the lighting in those locations will not illuminate.
The lighting programme ensures the right level of safety and energy savings are being achieved, so lights come on as and when required.
The lighting only operates when the area is in use. An annual saving of 42 tonnes of CO2 equivalent has been estimated, as compared with the baseline year of 2019/20. This is the equivalent of planting 3,384 trees and is based on a 63% saving in lighting output.
Councillor Giles Archibald, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for climate, biodiversity and environmental services said: “The predicted levels of savings for both CO2 and energy through this lighting replacement scheme is fantastic and forms just one of several projects that make up our detailed five-year Climate Action Plan. This takes us one step further on our journey to net zero and establishing ourselves as an ecologically aware, climate positive council.”
A short video for the project can be viewed here: https://youtube.com/shorts/zH6CVRbBolI
