Control Panel India

In this issue of e-power we speak to Mrs. Ekta Sanghvi, Principal, Lighting Concepts – a leading consulting firm that advising clients on all aspects of Lighting.

After completing her formal education in Electronics Engineering and Lighting, Ekta went for Design Certification from US and Germany. She assisted a few international lighting designers before founding Lighting Concepts, a firm focused on end to end advisory services in Lighting since 2004 based in Pune. Lighting Concepts also has LEED Consultants on board.

Ekta is an active member of IESNA  (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America). A few of her landmark project include the EON Freezone IT Park at Kharadi, Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai and several high end residences across various Indian Cities. Presently she is associated with several leading Architects and Interior Designers for various projects in India as well as global markets.

LightScaping : Interesting Effects in Lighting – Download Presentation

What is your role as a lighting consultant?

Lighting is the most important dimension of architecture in addition to interior, exterior and civil. In conceptualizing, just like an architect creates a storyboard, we create lighting design boards. As a consultant we take ownership or end to end responsibility from conceptualization lighting theme with detail lighting design in Autocad including the layouts, looping layouts, budgeting, scheduling, fixture and light selection to installation assistance.

In lighting conceptualization we address to visual hierarchy, intensity levels, contrast engineering, light distribution, and any other specific requirements pertaining to ambience, creating focal points in interiors and exteriors.

Next we do integration with Building Management Systems. More importantly, we co-ordinate with Security people and ensure adequate light for clear visibility in areas monitored through CCTVs. Post execution, we again cross-verify if everything is done according to specification. We supervise in mounting, aiming and focusing of lights to achieve desired impact.

The project handover includes maintenance schedule or guide specifying the type of lamps used (luminaire, make, code etc.) maintenance and replacement procedures. This is applicable for lighting fixtures too, which may not be readily available. Most of the times, we have to be the last ones to handover our work to client.

What value do you bring to the project?

The value that we bring to the project is unique and specific to that project. For example, I would like to share our work in case of street lights. Now there is a urgent need to improve efficiency and effectiveness of Street lights. So we are working with the Muncipal Corporation to help them achieve about 80% savings in current energy consumption of street lights.

Today, the street lights consist of 2 X 250W bulbs. The distance between two street lights is twice the height of the street light pole. With improved design which intelligently uses reflectors and optics, we can use bulbs of just 2 X 70W and the distance between two poles can be extended to 4-5 times of the height of the pole. For this particular project our work not only brings in a huge savings in the power consumed but also helps save on capital expenditure for street lights.

How do you rate the current scenario of using expert help for lighting in the market?

Well, the awareness about lighting design was still low until recently. About six years ago, clients use to misunderstand us as a trader. Today, the situation is much better. There is greater awareness about the kind of ‘value’ that a lighting consultant brings to the project. People have seen, experienced our work, realized the benefits and that has got the ball rolling. So today, most of our business comes from referrals.

I believe the large companies that provide lighting products would also be providing consulting services?

Yes. The consulting services are essentially limited to advice on their range of products. But then in these cases the limitation of the product becomes the limitation of the project. That comes very differently with us. If I were to draw out the most important proposition that we bring to any project – it is unbiased advice where the requirements of the project comes first. In terms of brand or fixtures we have a whole palette around the world. Being an independent consultant allows us to be able to pick and choose the best of the available solutions, products and technologies in lighting.

What are the common/ typical mistakes in lighting?

Most common mistakes like, when in an interior downlights fixture where you have more than one CFL and when replace either usually there is a different color within the same fixture. This happens purely when there is a change in the color of lamp and then we complain.

I will not term it is as a mistake, but there is a tendency to pick up and use the latest thing available in the market without complete knowledge of the subject. For example, lately you will see that lot of people are using LED lighting. Often the reason sighted is energy savings. But what most don’t realize is that just the use of LEDs doesn’t mean you are saving on energy. In fact, in many cases CFL is more appropriate option both in terms of cost, energy savings and quality of illumination.

It is important to understand the application of LEDs. No doubt they are better in saving energy, but they are suitable for only certain type of applications. LED is increasingly being used for general illumination too. I would say LED technology per se is not yet ready for application in general illumination.

There are lots of technical issues that currently limit the use of LEDs in general illumination. Since LEDs are a point source of light, direct view of LEDs for a long time is harmful to your eyes mostly due to glare issues.  We still don’t have standard rules of use established for LEDs like we have for other lamp sources.

How do you see the problems in lighting in workshop, factories where some manufacturing activities are being carried out.

Lighting has to be configured depending on factory type and the type of work. For example if you are doing fine work you need more light and visibility. So the use of only skylight or high-bay light may not be enough. Bad lighting will affect both health of the person and production quality. Illumination levels in factories are one area that gets scarce attention. It becomes even more critical in places where hazardous chemicals, acids etc. are used in production process.

What are immediate and urgent areas of improvements in closed temperature controlled environments?

An important area of improvement is the layout of lights. Typically, one will see cluster of two or four lights put in one line running above the cubicles. Now this is easy for maintenance but a extremly poor design when we consider working conditions and energy consumption. Use of target or task oriented lighting can help in saving energy, but is often pushed aside citing higher capital expenditure.

For many of the companies, today, employees work late into the night. This affects the Circadian cycle of employees, which in turn leads to loss of sleep and other health problems. Proper lighting can be very useful minimizing the health related problems due to all night shifts or working late into the night.

How are we placed vis a vis the developed world in terms of lighting?

We in India are a lagging a step behind. For example, use of T2, T3 type tubelight is prevalent in the developed world. In India we still use T5 type of light.

What are the future trends in terms of technology in lighting?

There are organic LEDs on the horizon. We can say there are the next generation of current LED lights. Then there are phosphorus sheets, which are as thin as a paper and are likely to find commercial application in lighting.

In terms of overall nature of technology evolution, I think over the next one or two decades we will get to see huge variants of lights being developed and used for extremely specific purpose. So the field as a whole will be very specialized and the co-relation between technology and application or utility will be tighter. For example, the phosphorous sheet lighting probably has no or limited application in general lighting but has great utility for some specific application.

Other dominant theme, we all know is energy savings. So we are more likely to see cheaper versions of far more energy efficient lighting in near future.

To conclude, I would say we will have an ever expanding choice of technology and ever increasing choice of variants for each technology. Typically, today for any project we evaluate over 200 different types of lamps with huge number of variants in each type. As this figure grows the real challenge will be pick and choose the right type of lighting for your application. Ultimately, Lighting is a combination of both Art and Science. And as consultant we have to keep the focus to bring in both in our work.

In the previous newsletter we talked to Vinayak Thorat on evolution and current market scenario of Green Buildings. In this issue, we discuss with him the key success factors and future outlook for Green building projects.In this issue, we also speak to Amarnath Ekbote, Head of Services at V A Group on Electrical Systems in green buildings.

Continued from Part I

What are the key success factors for a Green Building Project?

First and most important, the client has to drive the project. For example, in case of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., Mr. Sanjay Kirloskar, Managing Director gave a clear mandate for a green building. Although, he did not have any targets in mind, there was a clear commitment to lead the way in being green.

Second, the architect has to translate the vision for a green building to be understood and implemented by a consortium. We have a group of consultants who closely work with us in electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, landscape and other important areas. Third and probably most critical link in any Green Building project is contractor who actually executes the work. The last man on the site has to be sensitized towards the importance of tiny aspects critical to green building.

Finally, the supplier who provides products also has to be aligned to the objectives of green building and practical difficulties in implementing the same. A holistic and synchronized team is key to successful Green building project.

In the initial days of the KBL project in 2006, we had to orient consultants, contractors, suppliers for the importance of their responsibility in making the project a success. We had to conduct targeted training programs to raise their awareness and sensitize them for norms in Green buildings.

The IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) norms or set of guidelines – Site selection, Water conservation, energy, indoor air quality and innovation helps to structure the vision and implementation practices for Green Building.

Since we are on KBL project, it’s been two years since the project is operational. What advantages are being actually realized?

About the advantages that we promised, I am proud to say, all are realized. More importantly, I would like to talk about the ‘not so obvious’ advantages of the project which were realized by the client. We specifically asked the client about advantages they realized, in addition to energy savings. The feedback is very interesting and thought provoking.

After shifting to the new building the attrition rates have dropped by 6-7%. Employees taking an off from work due to health reasons is also down as compared to that in the past. This can be largely attributed to a more natural working environment. While designing the KBL building we have used sky-lights to provide natural light. Over eighty percent of the employees have a view of outside. The air quality is monitored for Co2 levels. In addition to energy savings, all these factors will play a vital role in company’s growth.

According to you, typically, how many people in the market today are interested in Green buildings?

Back in 2006, I would have said very less. But today, every third or fourth person we meet is interested. While all of them may not be interested in full fledged certifications, there is certainly greater awareness and clarity on building a green element in projects.

The general perception is that the Green Buildings are Expensive. What are your comments?

Well, some elements are still very costly. Say, solar panels or a wind energy sources etc. But there are many other elements that come at little or no additional costs. I would say almost 30-40% of energy savings can be brought in without any significant addition to costs. So these could be perpetual passive means of savings for any building.

In fact, these non-expensive tools like high energy star rating products, rain water harvesting etc. are easier to implement at a smaller scale. For example, there is a huge difference in planning rain water harvesting for a 400 sq. mt. plot for a bunglow against a 4,000 sq. mt plot for commercial complex. The smaller projects are more important than the larger ones for Green buildings to make any significant overall impact on energy consumption.

Can you help to quantify the cost differentials for a green building and a normal building?

This is a very subjective question. Any attempt to quantify these costs can be easily countered. However, as a rule of thumb we can look at the base building cost. The additional costs are dependent on base building costs.

If you consider a base building cost of Rs. 3,000-3,200/ sq. ft. then basic certification can occur without any additional costs. Incremental costs for Silver certification will be about 3-4%, for Gold the costs will be 7-8% extra. Platinum certifications can add 15-18% to the budget of the base building costs mentioned above.

What was the toughest decision in KBL project?

Since 60-65% of power costs are due to HVAC, we wanted to have the best possible technology. Thanks to our consultants we could identify VRV water cooled technology. But there was only one supplier (Daiken), the price was 20-25% higher than regular central chiller systems and virtually no live projects with this technology in India. But the client stood by us and today the HVAC system for this project consumes less than 50% of the total power.

Is it possible to convert an existing building to Green building?

Yes. We as a company have not retrofitted any building yet. But a good example would be KPIT Cummins where we have used VRV Air cooled technology and the building has also won an award. One limitation for existing buildings is that the changes are possible mostly on the front-end. Like for example, you cannot change the plumbing systems but switching to efficient taps with sensors is not a lot of extra cost.

Amarnath Ekbote, Head of Services at V A Group shares his thoughts on Electrical Systems in Green Buildings.

How can modifications in existing electrical systems help to save energy?

Incremental improvements in existing electrical systems can help to achieve significant energy savings. There are two areas where energy savings can be achieved – Lighting and HVAC. For commercial buildings, lighting constitutes to about 10-15% of the total electricity consumption. There are multiple levels on which one can think of improving your current lighting system.

First, at design level where you can modify the design to avoid excess lighting or light pollution. Lighting needs can be accurately calculated using daylight simulation software or lighting designing software. Second opportunity lies in more efficient technology – retrofit existing incandescent, fluorescent tube lights or metal halide lights with T5, CFL or LEDs.

On the next level we can use tools like occupancy based light switching. Use of corridor sensors in lighting can also help to reduce wasteful lighting needs. Significant savings to the tune of 15% to 20% of total lighting power consumption can be achieved through integration of all these efforts on multiple levels.

Given the fact that any attempt to temper with HVAC installation can be costly, how can one save on power consumption in HVAC?

Well, there are many things that can be done on HVAC system which will start from the selection of type & technology of HVAC system followed by other means & extent of automation, selection of highly efficient equipments etc.  As far as possible VFD driven Pumps & Motors should be selected for energy savings. Various options of Heat Recovery can be thought of to have up front Power savings & down-sizing the equipment capacity. The next level of energy saving can be achieved by having individual temperature controls,  use of VAV box, proper zoning based on building functionality etc.

The regular maintenance of plant & equipments will improve the performance over a time span & can offer indirect savings.  One can achieve power saving in between 10% to 25% based on the extent of application of above methods.

In this issue of e-power we speak to Vinayak Thorat, Associate Architect – Head Western Region,Venkataramanan Associates and an expert in the field of Green Buildings.

His team has designed ‘Yamuna’, the corporate office and facility of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL), which was awarded the prestigious LEED Platinum rating for green buildings. Spread over 3 acres of land the building is able to save up to 30% of energy and 30% of water purely by use of technology and effective design.

Vinayak Thorat shares his thoughts on what it takes to create a green building, the current industry scenario and his experiences from the Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. ‘Yamuna’ project.

What are the various schools of thought in Green Building?

In India we have a diverse and rich tradition in ‘Building Design’. In the Indian context, climatological aspects have always been at the core of building design.

For example, if you take Pune region, with temperatures touching 40 deg cel. it is predominantly a hot climate. The traditional ‘Vaada’ has thick walls that prevent heat penetration. The use of stones, with a high thermal mass, in construction further helps to keep away the heat. The plans of the old buildings are inward looking and hence almost entirely block the hot air coming from outside.

Typically, there is always a well at the center of the house. In addition to being a source of water for drinking and domestic use, the well, also provides cooling effect inside the house.

Similarly, in north India one often finds use of empty earthen pots between slabs in the old Haveli. The pots act as natural heat absorbents insulating the space below.

Moving on from tradition to current times, we have had great practitioners in India like Laurry Baker and B V Joshi. Their work has revived the links available in traditional building design.

How is the current construction industry scenario in view of green building philosophy?

Unfortunately, the mainstream market is driven by commercial compulsions like optimizing FSI, scarce land availability etc. which cannot be ignored. For example, there is an increasing tendency to reduce the thickness of walls in order to increase the carpet area. But with thin walls the heat penetration is faster, more intense and people have to deploy artificial means of cooling like air conditioning.

In the good old days Architecture comprised 80% of the work with the rest taken care by services. Today the situation is exact opposite with Architecture comprising only 20%-30% of the total work and costs while utilities grabbing a majority share of about 60-70% of the total costs.

As we take up large scale, complex projects the list of requirements in utilities like air conditioners, elevators, pumping systems etc. is expanding rapidly.   The result is Energy Intensive buildings. Today, almost every organization needs computers which in turn demand the sensitivity of the building to utilities. So how we co-relate energy efficient design philosophy as well as the engineering aspects is critical for future of green buildings.

How do you see the market for Green Buildings in current industry?

The target audience for green buildings is mostly the corporate sector. Unfortunately the concept has not penetrated to the masses yet. In case of residential projects, customer typically comes in towards the end of planning and construction and hence can influence only cosmetic changes. Also, the developer builder has to keep the overheads low in order to stay competitive. So the use of equipments with higher upfront costs but lower operational costs is still limited in residential projects. The overall focus is still largely on maximizing carpet area.

Since corporate are themselves the end users, requirements can be understood and mapped more accurately. There is willingness for greater initial investments in view of long term cost savings and benefits. Most of the companies design their buildings on institution level and hence are less sensitive to commercial compulsions like achieving target FSI.

Is Green Buildings philosophy really practiced as science or is it just another marketing gimmick?

After architecting seven green buildings, I have come to believe that those who have the ‘intent’ definitely succeed. People using it as marketing gimmick will encounter severe limitations with increasing awareness on green buildings amongst customers.

But as a consumer I am exposed to marketing. How do I see ‘intent’?

Intent is visible in everything you do. The problem is we don’t observe and get carried away by marketing.

See our office, for example, the building depth is designed to ease penetration of natural lighting. The electrical lights have sensors, if I am not there in this room for more than three minutes the lights will go off. The walls are made of Fly ash bricks which have better insulation, higher efficiencies in construction and environment friendly. People love to work and live in an environment that has natural light, a vision of outside surrounded with trees. All these factors in our design clearly express our intent and commitment to green buildings.

To be continued in next issue of e-power….