Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust has become the first NHS Trust in Europe to install energy-saving and cost-effective intelligent lighting.
The trust aims to save around £38,000 per year in energy costs.
WWL embarked on a long-term Carbon Management Implementation Plan (CMIP) in 2007, which resulted in a number of schemes to improve the Trust’s energy performance. The latest of these schemes, a lighting upgrade replacing existing lights with new LED luminaires, has been installed at the Thomas Linacre Outpatient Centre (TLC) using lighting controls and building Internet of Things (IoT) technology from Enlighted Inc., a Siemens Company.
Each of the 612 LED fittings and sensors, replacing 904 fixtures, that have been installed at TLC are equipped with Enlighted smart sensors, incorporating Bluetooth beacons that transmit and receive data, establishing an Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure across the site.
And as the Bluetooth is constantly monitoring and transmitting data, it can be used to tag and track medical equipment and assets, and for real-time space modelling.
Several visualisations providing heat mapping, motion trails, motion animation, time series and more can all be reported on, allowing the Trust to gain greater awareness of space usage – crucial when planning for future developments.
Mark Hogan, Senior Operational Estates Manager said: “WWL prides itself on being an innovator and pioneer of technology.”
“When Enlighted came to us with a proposition that their technology could help reduce the organisation’s environmental impact through reduced energy consumption – and at the same time introduce many other key technological tools to help with asset tracking, space utilisation and many other control functions – we were very interested.”
“All of the aforementioned tools are built into one device which means that, although initially we installed the technology to control lights, which provided a very good return on investment, we have the ability to ‘Bolt on’ at a click of a button, the other features of this all-encompassing technology.”
“TLC may have been the first NHS in Europe to install this technology, however, it won’t be the last.”
Eamonn Hughes, executive vice president of international sales at Enlighted, said: “While the project began with the goal of reducing energy consumption, the Enlighted platform is designed to do much more.”
“In addition to greener buildings, Enlighted’s granular data creates smarter buildings. We were able to work with the forward-thinking WWL team to surpass their goals for the CMIP while future-proofing their building with IoT capabilities for years to come.”
The success of the project has enabled WWL to successfully bid for an additional £800,000 from the National Energy Efficiency Fund. This funding will enable phase 1 of the installation of LED intelligent lighting at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary site, which is due to start this year, and is set to provide direct savings of around £200,000 a year in energy costs and a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 900 tonnes a year.
