andymc posted on July 01, 2010 07:36
SRK Consulting Engineers use Green Wave Automation to further reduce electricity wastage at their head office in Illovo JHB.
SRK had installed power factor correction units but wanted to further reduce electricity wastage. A key factor is their staff don't work regular 8am - 5pm hours, engineers spend a lot of time out of the office and leave their office lights on. If someone comes in at 6am and leaves by 7am for site, their lights are left running the whole day.
Green Wave automation installed wall sensors in offices and ceiling sensors in corridors, meeting rooms, toilets and basement parking. Timers were also installed on Hydro-boils (urns) and extractor fans in the toilets as they were left running all night.
Sensors in offices with high sensitivity were used to pick up fine movement. We adjusted timers to 10min to minimise wastage.
Sensors in the basement parking were set to different time periods depending on the location i.e. in high usage areas near exits timers were set to 15min and in low usage areas to 3min. Further electricity savings were achieved by setting the lux levels to use daylight harvesting. Areas where sufficient natural lights is available don't turn on if there is movement. Only when the lux drops below the set level will lights turn on when there is movement, further increasing electricity savings.