ENERGY IS HAVING ITS PRICE

Mar 24, 2022

It is on everybody’s mouth: this year energy is having its price, and it is definitely higher than in the past. In Italy, energy bills are expected to go up by 131% in comparison with 2021, in UK by 54%. And these are just two examples, but there could be many others.

In May last year, Nichia organized Lighting High-End Retail Stores, a webinar during which Paolo Giovane, senior lighting designer and project manager at Metis Lighting, illustrated the four factors every lighting designer should keep an eye on: illuminating the products and garments, the architectural lighting, the selection of lighting fixtures and the energy consumption aspect. In his contribution, Paolo Giovane showed how it was possible to decrease by 30% the power consumption of a High-End Retail Store applying innovative LED fittings and a new Lighting Concept. A whole process was necessary for consolidating a rigorous path that would lead to a significant reduction of power consumption, without sacrificing the lighting standards: the starting point was halo / fluo lamps that had an average consumption of 108,5 W/sq.m., around 2010 a combination of LED and MH reduced the values to 61.8 W/sq.m. and finally the use of 100% LED dropped the energy consumption to 46.8 W/sq.m.

Further on in 2019, there was a significant update in the Interior Design Concept of the brand which led to a new Lighting Design Concept, resulting in a new ceiling layout and millwork project.

These updates combined with the replacement of the light fittings with more efficient ones, had a great impact on the power consumption of the Store and the overall sustainability of the brand itself.

In conclusion, a forward-thinking client, high quality technologies, a specialized lighting manufacturer and a lighting design team do have an impact on energy bills!

Luxury has to represent not only a consumption wheel bearing new aesthetics, but also a chance to always innovate itself and its integral footprint.

Alessandra Chemollo