Company News - FCR Electrical & Mechanical Ltd - Commercial Electrical Contractors - Page 7
01253 364 029
Whatsapp Us!
02 Jun 2019
0 Comments By Chris Electrical Tips, Energy Saving, Rewires , ,

How to Save Energy by Using Smart Lighting Solutions

A foremost concern that many homeowners have is about saving energy costs. With the rise of the internet of things (IoT) architectures, smart lighting technology has truly revolutionised the use of energy. According to Gatner, it is estimated that 46 million units were installed in 2015 and this will increase to 2.54 billion units in 2020. Smart lighting involves connecting the light system with a network, which can be monitored and controlled through the cloud or a centralised system. What’s more by installing smart lighting technologies in your property, you can increase its value up to 38%.

How Does Smart Energy Technologies Work

The key factor in smart energy technologies is integration, which enables devices installed around your home to communicate and activate each other. For example, you can switch on the heating in your home by using Nest, an app-enabled thermostat, which senses your exit from work. It also alters the temperature based on usage and peak times. You can adjust your smart lighting solutions according to the time of the day, the number of occupants in the home or the weather outside. Furthermore, you can integrate your window blinds with your lighting solutions, enabling them to be lowered once the sun sets and automatically switching the lights as well.

In order to effectively reduce lighting expenses, it is vital that all five phases of smart lighting is installed, which includes LED lighting, sensors and controls, connectivity, analytics and intelligence.

Smart Lighting Solutions – LED Lights

Several offices and commercial facilities have hundreds and thousands of lighting fixtures installed and this represents at least 40% of the total load. Therefore, by replacing traditional incandescent, fluorescent lighting systems or halogen incandescent with LED lightings, commercial property owners will experience a drastic drop in energy and maintenance costs. LED lights are much more efficient than traditional incandescent lights because the former loses about 90% of energy in heating the bulb and a small fraction goes to generating light. In addition to this, LED lights have a lifetime of about 50,000h in comparison to incandescent lights that have 200h. Therefore, LED lights are affordable and attractive due to their minimum maintenance costs and direct energy savings.

Lighting Controls

It is through lighting controls that makes the entire smart home technology function as it integrates the devices with a centralised system, which can be monitored and controlled. A few examples of energy-efficient control solutions are:

  • Lighting control circuit breakers
  • Occupancy/vacancy sensors
  • Personal dimming controls
  • Daylight harvesting sensors
  • Plug load control

Lighting controls help keep a track of the energy usage within your home. This involves turning off lights in rooms that are vacant or minimising the amount of energy consumed in order to light up a particular space. The effectiveness of lighting controls for energy saving is based upon area utilisation rate and the particular applications. For example, if a room is occupied 100% of the time, it is unlikely that occupancy/vacancy sensors will be able to decrease energy use.

What do you think about smart lighting solutions? Do you have any smart lighting solutions installed in your premise. If not, we can help! Call us today to know more.

02 Jan 2018
0 Comments By Chris Rewires

Everything You Need to Know About Part P of Building Regulations

Before hiring a contractor for electrical repairs at your home or office, you need to consider a couple of things that will save both money and time. What’s more, you need to be aware of all the details mentioned on the Part P of Building Regulations for electrical safety in UK which many homeowners are unaware of.

BUILDING REGULATIONS AND PART P:

Part P of the building regulations is a legal obligation for all tasks related to electrical installations in houses, flats and offices that are associated or shared with other flats or offices in a building. It also covers areas such as greenhouses, garden lighting’s and separate garages.

Whether you plan to fix all your electrical repairs by yourself or have it done by a professional, you need to notify the concerned authority before setting out to fix any rewiring issues or other electrical installations. If you fail to inform the legal authority, it is most likely they might terminate or alter your work.

PART P CERTIFICATION:

As for the part P certification, you may select from the following four options

  1. Self-Certification Schemes: There is a possibility to self-certify yourself as an electrical contractor if you perform electrical installations as a major activity of your business. Once, you are registered, you are no longer required further notify any authority for the electrical actions you perform.
  2. BCB(Building Control Body): If your electrical installations are infrequent and are only being performed as a supplementary tasks to your main activities, and you are not interested in being registered, then you may have to notify BCB before commencing your work. Above all, you should be able to meet all the requirements related to design and safety. The BCB will then take care of everything else on your behalf for which you will have to pay extra charges.
  3. Third Party Certification: Some people hold third party certification to offer to other clients who want to perform electrical tasks. Although the third party is not the actual electrical contractor, which performs your repairs, they facilitate certifications and conformity towards the requirements of installations and safety for the electrical contractor. That is, if they are not registered with a competent person self-certification scheme. You may consult with them before carrying out any electrical work.
  4. Notifying Local Authority: If you do not want to select the third party certification or the self-certification schemes, you can simply notify the local authority and they might hire electrical inspectors for the purpose who will decide on which option would be appropriate for the work.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THESE REGULATIONS?

According to a research, 30% of the accidents caused by bad electrical installations through these regulations could have been prevented. Hence, reducing the annual injuries and deaths leads towards an overall growth in the quality of electrical operations.

So, what are you waiting for?! Here’s a smart solution available to you right at your doorsteps! We will make sure you get the electrical work done in the safest way. Remember, safety always comes first! If you need any more info on part P regulations feel free to contact us at Fylde Coast Re-wires where we would be happy to direct on the correct procedures, as a registered company that can certify our own work we are well placed to provide you with guidance.