A Dubai company has introduced lighting systems that save at least 50 per cent in energy use and costs, and is setting its sights on 2020 – likely to be a big year for the UAE in more ways than one.
Ensunt Clean Tech Solution, a Global Energy & Lighting partner based in Al Barsha, wants to light up Expo2020, and hopes to help reduce the UAE’s self-imposed carbon footprint in line with its pledges to the Kyoto protocol by the 2020 deadline.
Ensunt owner Joseph Steinfeldt believes their high-tech solutions are a perfect fit for the UAE market. In fact, CeramaTek, their flagship line of eHID lighting retrofit kits, is already illuminating landmarks in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in pilot schemes that could spark a lighting revolution in the UAE.
The CeramaTek line of lighting systems saves at least 50 per cent in energy use.
The firm claims the new technology, which turns yellow streetlamps into white, or daylight, costs less to install than the latest LED lamps and saves more than 50 per cent of energy use from the moment it is put in place. If Dubai wins the race to host World Expo2020, Steinfeldt doesn’t just want to showcase the new technology – he wants the contract to light up the whole site.
“It’s such a revelation that people don’t understand why they haven’t heard about it.” Regional pilot projects are lighting the way for CeramaTek, with Steinfeldt claiming its 60 percent energy savings equates to a 60 percent cash savings. “We are doing a lot of pilot projects with Abu Dhabi Municipality. We have lights at Dubai Airport. We lit up the Deira Clock Tower and a mosque in Sharjah.” stated Steinfeldt.
“All of them are seeing that wherever they use our light, they get more visibility. The light is changed from yellow to white, or daylight. It’s called CRI: ‘color rendering index’. We have the highest CRI in the industry – we guarantee a 50 percent energy savings, though it’s more than that, and we’re less expensive than LED.
“The main punch is that we use the same light fixtures, we just change the bulb and the driver, so companies don’t have to change the fixtures. It’s very straightforward.
“A senior executive at Exxon was quoted as saying that the biggest renewable energy wave is going to come, and it’s not the energy we’re going to make, it’s the energy we’re going to save. In this area we are really living above our means. I first came here [to the UAE] in 1983 and the unsustainable way we live is frightening.”
Steinfeldt would like to see the UAE’s roads lit by CeramaTek, saving the government a fortune and helping the nation to cut its carbon footprint by the 2020 deadline, stating, “You drive to Abu Dhabi from Dubai and each lamppost has a cluster of eight lights. Imagine the savings.”
The CeramaTek retrofit kit solution is not just a simple bulb, Steinfeldt explained. “Every street light has a driver, an electronic part. Say the bulb uses 100 watts, the driver will use 25 per cent of that, so it’s 125 watts. Our unique, proprietary driver works with Philips’ ceramic bulbs. Together with our driver, we extended the life of the bulb by three times.
“The problem in this country is heat, and we manufactured something that can withstand incredible heat and incredible cold.” Deira Clock Tower was the first pilot scheme in Dubai. Steinfeldt said: “We reduced the hourly consumption from 16,000 watts to 3,840 watts… The watts equate to dirhams.”
A series of photos show the difference in light quality. Steinfeldt said: “These were taken on a simple camera. The human eye is a far better light meter than any little gadget.”