With the new lighting solution from Osram featuring modern T5 trunking combined with an intelligent light management system, the online merchant Zalando is able to save more than 60% of its electricity overheads compared to a solution without light management.
During planning of the building, the theme of energy efficiency was a major factor. With new constructions, the logistics branch also places high importance on energy-efficient solutions that save costs and help to protect the environment, and it is especially with lighting that significant potential for saving is found. According to a survey conducted by Deutsche Post (‘Delivering Tomorrow: the Future Trend of Sustainable Logistics’), lighting in logistics centres is responsible for up to 80% of overall electricity requirements. This is why it pays dividends during the planning stages of a new logistics building to pay special attention to the factor of lighting.
A new logistics centre for Zalando
Zalando, Europe’s primary online dealer for shoes and apparel, will be inaugurating its largest logistics centre up until now in December 2012 in Erfurt, Germany, with floor space of 120,000 square metres. Walkable highbay racking has been installed in two halls that house several thousands of pair of shoes waiting for dispatch. The main requirements of the lighting solution were to minimise both the initial investment in lighting components and installation as well as subsequent operating costs for energy and maintenance.
The basis for the lighting was a detailed analysis of needs carried out by responsible managers at Zalando with support from the installation partner Lück Gebäudetechnik and the Osram project team. The result: even though light has to be immediately available when entering a racking aisle, in reality employees only work in 16% of the aisles, and this means the remaining 84% offer potential for savings. To exploit this, responsible managers planned the integration of a light management system that features presence detection in combination with constant light control. This in turn achieves maximum energy efficiency. As standard, all 13,552 luminaires in the racking aisles of type Hexal-a 1×35/49/80W DALI Multiwatt ECG are dimmed down to 10% luminous flux. If an employee enters an aisle he is detected by a presence sensor and the orientation lighting is then increased to the required lighting level within a few seconds.
New fluorescent lamps have to be flashed, independent of manufacturer and prior to dimming operation, for 100 hours at full power. This is carried out during initial commissioning and with any subsequent maintenance by simply pressing the button of a remote control.
Installation itself is a major cost factor with such large-scale projects. The aim right from the beginning was thus to develop lighting system that enabled simple mounting with use of pre-assembled components. The installation concept was optimised together with Zalando and the installation partner Lück Gebäudetechnik, and sensors for example were prepared and pre-programmed as plug-and-play sensor modules for the DUS trunking. With mounting on-site, the elements could thus be more quickly fitted to the total of around 63 kilometres of DUS trunking, sourced from the company of Siteco. A test set-up at Osram with the suggested system served as a decision aid for Zalando, and this was followed by the lighting planning team testing the system and final determination of the concept via a pilot set-up at the project location. In this way the tight schedule could be complied with and costs cut beforehand. In addition to pure hardware, Osram also thought about an intelligent logistics chain, and in cooperation with the installation partner packaging sizes and the loading of alternating bridges were optimised.
The lighting system developed by Osram now means that Zalando can achieve a savings potential in excess of 60%, and the additional investment for the lighting and light management system will amortise itself after just a short period of operation. In this way and thanks to the Osram solution, the company significantly saves on operating costs and also protects the environment.
Identifying savings potential for existing logistics buildings
In terms of lighting, the potential for saving can also be retrospectively optimised with existing logistics centres, and Osram gladly lends its support in such cases. In such projects the building concerned is analysed according to technical and cost factors with the aim of achieving economically suitable lighting that complies with current standards (e.g. DIN EN 12464 – Lighting of Workplaces). This includes maintaining or improving light quality, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and maintenance costs and the saving of energy. Investments in energy-efficient lighting certainly pay: amortisation periods are generally around three or four years and in many cases, according to burning periods and energy prices, can be cut to two years. Deutsche Post, the German postal system, also implemented an energy audit in 2010 at their letter centre in Straubing. Annual energy consumption was cut at the location by around 60% compared to the old lighting, corresponding to a CO2 equivalent of 51 tons. Overall the company saves more than 25,000 euros yearly on energy and maintenance costs with modernisation at their Straubing letter centre.
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