Economic analysis of an energy efficient LED based lighting scheme for a pharmaceutical industry

Artificial lighting is one of the visible source of energy consumption in any industries. Energy consumption can be minimized by providing an energy efficient lighting strategy. For achieving energy efficiency in lighting, compromise with lighting requirement in illumination levels is not entertained. Hence the lighting strategy must be suggested such that the required illumination levels are maintained by employing low power consuming lighting fixtures. This paper presents the results economic analysis of a lighting audit done on a pharmaceutical industry located at Chennai, India and proposes an energy efficient lighting solution to cope up with the short comings. In this study, economic analysis is carried out in terms of Payback. An initial survey of the site is carried out to acquire lighting details of the pharmaceutical industry. Existing lighting system, illumination levels and patterns, different areas and their functionalities etc. are studied. The existing lighting system is simulated in the lighting simulation software DIALux. Based on the results of lighting audit and simulation of existing system, a new LED based lighting strategy is suggested in order to maintain the required illumination level and minimize the energy consumption of the lighting system of the building. Energy efficient lighting solutions not only reduces the energy consumption but also helps in reducing the carbon footprint.