Energy Efficiency Lighting System: A Case Study of Setia Mall

The population has been increasing drastically in Malaysia, currently with an amount of 32 million which results in high demand and low supply. So, in order to achieve sustainability, the three pillar system which are environment, social and economic should be implement. In short, environmental sustainability is practices that help in maintaining the quality of environment and for social sustainability, the ability of meeting the needs of current generations without the need to compromise future generations to maintain healthy community relationship. Economic sustainability can be defined as strategies or practices such as reusing and minimizing the usage of existing resources that create long-term sustainable economic growth without bringing negative impact to the society, environment and cultural aspects of the community. When developing a sustainable design, energy in lighting system is one of the element that should be taken under consideration to provide a comfortable, safe and productive atmosphere without compromising the environment.

Setia City Mall is chosen as the researcher’s case study on this assignment. It is a mall that started operating in year 2012, May 17 under a joint venture between S P Setia, a Malaysian property developer and the Asian Retail Investment Fund, a global fund management. Setia City Mall is Malaysia’s first green mall that was awarded an International Real Estate (Fiabci) Prix d’Excellence Awards 2014 gold award in 2014. Moreover, it also achieved the Malaysian Green Building Index Silver Award. This signify that the mall has achieved the 3 pillar system of sustainability.

Most typical Malaysian shopping malls consumed lots of energy on air conditioning, lighting and water but in Setia City Mall, lighting is not considered as the highest consumption due to the usage of T5 fluorescent lamps indirect fixture as artificial lighting in the indoor carpark. As observed by the researcher, it has a wattage of 35 W and is in a colour of bright white that comes with a frosted polycarbonate lens to reduce glare. The light tube are 4ft long with a diameter of 16mm. At the rooftop of level P7, artificial lighting are only switch on during the evening. As for the concourse, compact fluorescent light (CFL) and LED light are utilized throughout the entire mall except for retail shops. Compact Fluorescent Light are newer and further developed version of fluorescent light. Apart from that, the lighting are under controlled by lux sensor which uses daylight harvesting that controls and measure the intensity of luminance on the area. This is to offset the right amount of light in the space without consuming a lot of energy. This few lighting are chosen because it is much more suitable for the mall. Besides that, the integration between daylight and artificial light has also been achieved in this particular mall.

According to Akashi, T5 are a better option when it is compared with T8 because T5 has a smaller diameter which produces the same amount of light with lesser energy used, but this is only applicable to larger area like offices and mall that consumed lots of energy as they need a huge sum of lighting. For example, based on a case study done by Lighting Research Center, a small office have no differences on using T5 over T8 systems. This is because the average luminous level in T5 is a little higher than T8 which does not reduce initial cost. Therefore, only larger space allow a reduction on the number of luminous level. A table of an estimated calculation of the electricity bill using T5, 10watt and T8. The total operating time per year is 262,800hours. Therefore, total cost of electricity bill per year is RM1,177,344 for T5 and RM1,768,644 for T8. The total investment per year including maintenance is RM1,177,420.3 for T5, RM1,768,696.8 for T8. The amount saved up is RM591,276.50 per usage of a single T5 instead of T8.

Next, it approximately last up to 36,000 hours. 12,000 hours longer than T8 and T8 have vibration sensitivity whereby it can shorten it’s lifespan but on the other hand, T5 are harder to be damage. It is to find out which lighting is much more worth it. This calculation proves that T5 are longer-lasting. Resultantly, it can save time on heading to a place to purchase the lighting and minimize cost and maintenance fee in the manner of reducing manpower to change a tons of lighting every 10 years (3600days) instead of 7 years (2400days) later. As a further matter, time and money can be spent on other utilities in this 10 years duration.

On top of that, T5 lamps operates at the maximum output with a ambient temperature of 35°C and it is less efficient with temperate lower than 25°C which shows that a tropical country like Malaysia is suitable for the usage of T5 at the carpark or any outdoor area. T5 are known as energy efficiency light and as less energy is consumed, the heat transformation from the electrical energy reduces. This substantiate that T5 are high heat dissipation and it could increase the thermal comfort of the occupants in the carpark and the cars parked at the area will not be overheated. T5 have low noise level because they are installed with electronic ballast as it generally produce lesser humming noise that are caused by the vibration. Nevertheless, T5 fluorescent are omnidirectional whereby it provide 360° of light and this is inefficient because it direct lights to places that requires redirecting to places that needs light. This causes less efficiency in output and more wastage on money is required to spend on accessories to fix the luminous output of the fluorescent tube but since it is used in parking area, it is not necessary for the need to direct the light at a particular spot unlike retail shops.

LEDs and the wire installation are the highest cost but are the most economical way in operating cost. For instance, LEDs are able to last up to 50,000 hours that is 20 times longer than incandescent light which results in minimal maintenance and less hassle in terms of replacing the lights. Moreover, the ceiling’s in the mall are about 3.8 meter high and this requires getting a electrician to change the light tube but since it last till 14 years(5000hours) of operating, the cost of hiring more manpower is reduced drastically as compared to Incandescent light that can barely last up to a year. LEDs provide the same amount of light with the same lumens per watt as incandescent light.

The researcher has studied retrofitting Incandescent light with LEDs and found that by replacing 60 W Incandescent light with 15 W LED, would have saved around RM1131.60 every 50,000 hours of operating. In spite of that, different type of LED qualities could affect the price range of installing but comparitively it is better than incandescent light as it is more power consuming, longer lifespan and less heat produced. What sets LED different from previous invention of lighting is that it depend on quantum formula to convert direct current to light whereas other lighting system depend on secondary product. This primary process justify that LEDs save up more energy because it does not need to go through a longer process to produce light.The difference between CFL and normal fluorescent light are, CFL are made in special shapes that are twisty-like bulbs which is highly versatile and suitable for interior use like malls as it requires direct light on certain areas such as the concierge, washroom and the walkway whereas the older version are long tubes with no direct lighting. Both uses up to 75% less energy and can last up to 15,000 hours. With the invention of CFL that replace the incandescent light, it last 10 times longer than the older version of incandescent light. That means, it can save its total purchase cost more than 5 times when energy consumption are calculated. The modern CFLs has a integral ballast built into the light bulb, whereas most fluorescent light have a separate ballast. On this plus side, the reduction of time and money spent on buying a ballast increase.

Additionally, it also helps to eliminate the flickering and noise produced so the occupants will have a clearer view without discomfort. From the economical point of view for consumers, T5, LEDs and CFLs are pricier than other fluorescent and incandescent light. They are expensive but it can provide economical benefits such as the low maintenance, high utilization factor, low energy usage and cost effectiveness. In addition, even though it is costly to purchase a big amount of lighting but in a long run the cost can be recovered and as shown in figure it help to save up to 26.3% of energy on lighting. Furthermore, based on a few journalist’s research, about 20%-50% of the primary energy consumption used in buildings are on the lighting accounts so lighting needs to be designed in a way where it can consume the least amount of energy. Saving electricity over time is significantly enough to not only purchase for new lighting, but also produce return on the investment. By either reducing the hours of usage of the lighting or the input wattage, energy can be consumed. T5 Fluorescent lamps are long lasting and produces lower energy consumption. This shows that it emits lesser heat to the environment but they are non eco-friendly to the environment as it uses mercury but less harmful to the environment as it contain less toxic substances used in manufacturing the light as compared to T8 which are larger dimension and it needs 38% more material such as glass and phosphor to manufacture the surface area.

Moreover, it lessen carbon dioxide (CO2) emission during usage. Besides, it emit a small amount of UV radiation that are equal to or greater than the wavelength of sunlight around 290-295nm which can cause paint fading. However, in this case, the car parked indoor won’t be a long period of time so this doesn’t affect much but it can break the bonds of molecular on the car’s surface and over time, the painting appears less vibrant. LED light emit light from a piece of semiconductor instead of gas and this shows that. In addition, it does not have poisonous mercury content compared with conventional fluorescent lamp. As for CFLs, the drawback is the small amount of mercury that is contain in the bulb and it needs a different way of disposing. In reference to Malcolm Innes, more than 1 million:1 range of illumination of natural light are provided throughout 12 hour a day from afternoon till midnight. This can be a problem to the shoppers that park at the rooftop as their vehicles has a potential of releasing toxic gaseous chemicals from the interior of the vehicles that can cause harm to the society as it emits to the air.