Earth Hour 2024: Sustainable workplace lighting design and construction

How Sheldon’s electrical division encourages sustainable lighting and electricals

Remember the first ever Earth Hour in 2007, back when it started in Sydney? Seeing the lights within the city’s skyscrapers all turn off at the same time was a powerful moment and symbol for change and urgency in climate action.

Since then, Earth Hour has gone global, with over 190 countries and territories getting involved annually, raising awareness and funds to combat climate change and loss of habitats and biodiversity around the world.

In recognition of Earth Hour, we are shining a spotlight (pun intended) on the sustainable initiatives our electrical division employs during our workplace design and construction projects. Because there is a lot more we can collectively do than turn the lights off in the office at the end of the day – but don’t forget to turn the lights off!

Sheldon electrical division’s sustainable initiatives include:

Replacing fluorescent lighting with LEDs

“A lot of old office buildings still use fluorescent tube lighting. For as many jobs as we can we’re trying to get those out and replace them with LEDs, which then helps the overall Greenstar and NABERS rating of a project,” said Sheldon’s Electrical Division Manager Dan Moroney.

LEDs are up to 80% more efficient than fluorescent lights, and have long been recognised as the best alternative that should be installed where possible.

Lighting control systems

“Wherever we can, we put in lighting control systems like a Cbus or DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) system which is more automated. We look at things like sensors and are trying to get away from conventional switching where people can leave lights on for an extended period of time,” said Dan.

We’ve implemented DALI systems in a number of recent fitouts such as at JQZ.

Reuse of electrical equipment

“When we first assess a site, rather than ripping [cabling] out and sending it to landfill, we identify what’s still in good use. We do a lot of testing on the cabling to make sure that the insulation of the cable has good integrity and try and reuse what we can. The rest of the scrap metal gets melted down and turned back into copper which can then become new cabling in the future.”

With copper being 100% recyclable, managing waste copper appropriately is a no brainer when it comes to retaining construction materials. Other electrical equipment that Sheldon aims to reuse includes comms racks and TVs.

Optimise lighting placement and natural light to avoid unnecessary lights

During the design phase of each project, our electrical and design teams work collaboratively to develop a lighting system that optimises natural light and reduces unnecessary energy usage. We produce lighting simulations using 3D modeling and rendering to come up with the most energy and cost-efficient lighting solution. By ensuring we install an appropriate and efficient lighting system, we optimise the lifetime energy savings for each office.

This Earth Hour, join us in switching the lights off in your office and home on Saturday 23 March at 8.30pm. Beyond that, consider how your fitout can save in its energy consumption through simple yet effective measures – it will not only decrease the power bill, but have a significant impact on your workplace’s overall carbon emissions.