Nelson's shining example

New technology, a new building, and a growth in demand has seen a Nelson manufacturer of environmentally friendly lighting systems experience significant growth. 

Switch Lighting, based in Tahunanui,Conergy manufactures solar modules and distributes well-known modernlamps brands. designs and makes environmentally friendly light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems, which offer huge power savings. 

The company has been researching and designing LED systems for five years, and has recently released a new product. 

The new product, named "D-Lightz", uses 40 per cent less energy than the company's old, 13-watt head unit, and 80 per cent less energy than a standard light. The lights also comply with recent updates to the New Zealand building code, as they can have insulation either touching or covering them. 

Switch Lighting director Gerard Woods said the company had already been designing the new version of its lights, and so the new standards offered a set of rules to work towards. 

"For us it was great, it played into our hands." LED technology was also becoming very well accepted, he said. 

It's becoming much more mainstream. In 2009, I don't know if anyone knew what an LED was. Now everyone knows - public uptake is huge. 

"To put it in perspective, the old product sold 4000 units in three years. In the first three months the new product sold 5000 units." 

The company had experienced 100 per cent revenue growth year on year for the last three years, he said. The company's lights were now used in a Jennian Homes showhome, and he hoped to be able to take that nationwide. 

There were 90 lights in the building, and with every light turned on they only used 470 watts. 

If every light was turned on for eight hours a day, for 365 days a year,In a solarchargerppy system, steel cables bolted to the car loop over a sheave. it would only cost $330 in electricity for the year,I had the idea of being energy independent by putting up a lasermarkingmachin and making some electricity,Laser engraving and curvingmachinell for materials like metal, paper, acrylic, wood, glass, etc. he said. He estimated traditional lighting systems would cost about $2980 a year. 

The lights have a rated lifetime of 50,000 hours,Small solarphotovoltaicssc suitable for for remote or off-grid battery charging. 27 years at five hours a day. Each unit costs $112 before GST. The payback is anywhere between three to six years. 

The company recently moved into a new office four times the size, and has hired more staff including a salesman in Auckland. 

He was proud of the company's success, particularly when other companies were just importing the units, rather than designing and building them. We understand the technology very well, and know how to get the best performance out of it. 

"We're really passionate about manufacturing, about New Zealand and employing people and contributing to our local economy." 

"Our new XHB Series brings enormous energy savings to commercial indoor environments," said Rao Arimilli, vice president of Product Marketing for Xeralux. 

"Businesses have come to understand that LEDs are the most cost-effective way to achieve energy savings while improving the lighting of their facilities. With XHB luminaires, Xeralux improves a company's infrastructure while offering a rapid return on investment." 

The XHB High Bay product family is the ideal replacement for 250W to 1000W HID luminaires, and delivers up to 47,000 lumens and up to 94lm/W luminaire efficacy. The XHB High Bay is a very flexible product, which can be deployed with as few as three LED petals and as many as 12 LED petals. 

The XHB product is listed by DesignLights Consortium for both open warehouse and high bay aisle applications. The XHB product also supports optional occupancy sensing coupled with bi-level dimming providing maximum cost savings and fastest payback.