Published: 3 September 2008 Category: News

The first hotel without a single incandescent light bulb

FAST FACTS

Client

Accor Hotels Nederland

Project

Sofitel Cocagne Eindhoven

Location

Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Luminaires and controls

Spot LED luminaires

Light sources

MASTERLED, MASTERClassic, Spot LED,

LEDLine, various compact fluorescent lamps

Project Responsable

Eric Senders, Professional Lamps Europe

Background

Accor Hotels Nederland has an ambitious worldwide sustainability programme called ‘Earth Guest'. Through this programme it aims to achieve savings in key areas like water use, recycling and energy consumption. "Lighting is a main area where we can realise substantial savings," said Ron Lemmens, Director of Technical Operations for Accor Hotels Nederland. "In the years to come we want to use 10% less energy globally than in 2006. The partnership with Philips works very well. It is the intention to do the same for all our hotels in the Netherlands, so we will no longer be using incandescent lamps at all".

The Challenge

Lighting plays a major role in determining the ambience of a hotel. "One of the main disadvantages of conventional energy-saving lamps is that the light is too white," says Hans van der Lienden, Facility Manager of Sofitel Cocagne Eindhoven. "What you also see is that the texture of certain fabrics and wood is not properly accentuated." This example shows that any steps taken to reduce the amount of electricity consumed by lamps should therefore not compromise the quality of the light or the atmosphere it creates.

The Solution

"We have about 4000 lights throughout the hotel, and use for example the Philips MASTERClassic halogen in locations where the ambience is particularly important, like the restaurant and other public areas," says Van der Lienden. "The advantage of halogen is that it gives a warm light and can also be dimmed." "Another example is the waiting area at the lifts, which used to be lit by 35 W spotlights," says Eric Senders, the Philips Hospitality Application Manager for Professional Lamps Europe.

"The same amount of 7 W MASTERLEDs now actually produce more light, while using 80% less energy."

Benefits

Using a combination of halogen, (compact) fluorescent and LED lighting brings a number of advantages. First and foremost, there is the reduction in electricity consumption. "Accor Hotels Nederland uses around €4 million worth of electricity in the Netherlands each year, with approximately 25% being consumed by lighting," says Senders. "If you can realise average savings of around 30% by eliminating incandescent lamps, that's €300,000 on an annual basis."

And not only does the new technology achieve energy reductions of as much as 80%, they also last up to 15 times as long as

incandescent lamps, which obviously translates into much lower maintenance and replacement costs. Last benefit is that with some new LED solutions that are used in the lobby now, Sofitel Cocagne is able to adapt their ambience to any occasion with a wide variety of colour combinations!