Light as a Service in the World’s Greenest Building

light as a service

Many companies have adopted the “product-as-a-service” business model because of climate change. Aside from being more environment-friendly, these offerings, such as light-as-a-service, reduce CO2 emission, pollution and lower the cost of lighting. Customers only pay for the light they use, and leave the hassle of burnt-out bulb replacement and disposal to the service provider.

Philips, a Dutch multinational conglomerate and the largest manufacturer of lighting systems in the world, now offers light-as-a-service. It is safe to say that every adult person on the planet has bought a Philips lightbulb before. Now, business owners no longer have to buy lightbulbs, install them, nor figure out a layout or worry about the proper disposal of lighting materials in an environmentally favorable way.

Philips maintains and manages lighting systems throughout their lifecycle. For large companies and buildings such as The Edge in Amsterdam, Philips applied the smart connected lighting system that helps create a more comfortable, productive and sustainable environment while shrinking the cost of lighting the entire building. Employees at The Edge can also customize their light settings using a smartphone app.

The Philips smart system at The Edge provides the building administrator with real-time data on operations and activities. This data allows facility managers to maximize the building’s lighting efficiency and optimize the use of light. The CO2 footprint and energy consumed in the building are also reduced.

The system’s 6,500 connected LED luminaires create a digital lighting framework throughout the building’s 15 floors. Integrated sensors in 3,000 of these luminaires collect data on occupancy and light usage.The data is fed into a software where the system captures, stores, shares and distributes information about the illuminated spaces.

By providing light-as-a-service, Philips took a step towards the circular economy. The Dutch company claims it was the first in the lighting industry to adopt a product-as-a-service business model based on circular economy principles including management of the building’s entire lighting system and layout. Their service also reduces the cost of lighting for homes, offices and cities.

According to Philips its Pacific LED is designed to use natural resources in a more effective way by improving on recycling, upgrade options and harvesting parts from used lightbulbs for reuse – minimizing the need to harvest raw materials from the planet’s resources.

Customers get the right light kind of light for their needs that meet top environmental codes of a circular economy. By choosing light-as-a-service, customers get sustainable light without the conventional costs. They are also able to upgrade to the latest technology with better optical performance, longer life and energy savings up to 80% compared to conventional lighting.

Providers typically offer a fixed monthly rate for the service. There is no risk of buying faulty hardware since the company provides everything – from lightbulbs to electrical infrastructure for the entire building. Customers no longer have to hire full-time maintenance staff to make sure that the building stays lit. The provider properly disposes of old lightbulbs before installing the new system.

The Edge decreased their cost of lighting by 100,000 euros each year and kept 3.6 million euros in savings in space utilization. The Edge was branded as the greenest building in the world that houses thousands of employees. It is now “the place to work” in the Netherlands. The company receives four times more job applicants than average companies because environment-conscious people want to work there.

Philips also provides light-as-a-service in Asia. It deployed 90,000 LED luminaries in Jakarta to light up the city’s streets. Luminaries are complete electric light units connected to the Philips CityTouch lighting management system in Indonesia. Jakarta’s local government officials said that they have focused on improving public services including street lighting in the last few years.

About 430 lights are being refitted every day and the project is expected to be completed in seven months – making it the world’s fastest street lighting modernization and remote management project undertaken so far. Jakarta wants to be a smart city where everything is connected to allow residents to live safely and more comfortably in a city that is attractive day and night.

Jakarta’s street lighting venture is not the only Philips project in Indonesia. Philips also applied a similar model to illuminate the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout and other public parks and spaces in the country. When light-as-a-service is applied in large-scale projects, it can mean reducing the cost of lighting in the millions or even billions of euros.