THE POWER NIGHTMARE

Typically, property management service providers and owners associations provide maintenance services for common areas to residents of properties managed by them. This includes lights in common areas, lifts etc. In providing these services, they need to strike a balance between high cost of lighting on the one hand and better security and customer comfort on the other hand. Typical common areas include Basement car parks, Entrance lobbies, Lift lobbies, Corridors etc

Cost saving is a major factor since any cost reduction adds to the bottom line of the business. Many building maintenance agencies try to reduce power bills and resort to tactics such as removing bulbs, manually switching off MCBs which in turn switch off multiple lights at night etc. Such tactics invariably reduce lighting levels and compromise resident safety and security.

ZeeSense has considerable expertise in energy management through lighting optimization to minimize power costs while maintaining or even enhancing appropriate levels of lighting to ensure security and customer satisfaction.

ZEESENSE SOLUTION APPROACH

The overall solution designed by ZeeSense is to switch on lights automatically, only when required and only when the area is used / occupied. This can be achieved by switching on lights in controlled areas based on people’s movement in and around the area. E.g., when a person comes out of the lift, the corridor space around the lift can be lit up. At other times, these lights can be off. Similarly, when a person moves towards his car, the basement area he is using can be lit up. This means that the basement need not have lights on when there is nobody in the vicinity (maybe selected few lights can be on to provide basic visibility for security). Also, the lights can be switched on in a controlled way only in the occupied areas.

The following criteria need to be considered in addressing the problem:

• Lights should switch on automatically when a person is near the area he wants to use
• Lights should switch off automatically when the person leaves the area
• Lights should switch on only when the ambient light is insufficient, requiring lights to provide sufficient lighting.
• Some common lights should be on to provide basic lighting even in unoccupied areas. This prevents usage experience of seeing darkness in the distance even though that area may be unused
• The solution should take into account two way traffic- people moving from the lift area to their cars and also from their cars to the lift
• The existing electrical wiring should be re-used for lights, as far as possible

The ZeeSense Power saving solution addresses all the above criteria in providing a very comfortable and safe experience for residents while saving huge sums of money in maintenance charges.

POWER SAVINGS and ROI

With each particular solution, ZeeSense analyzes the site and usage pattern and provides very transparent calculations of current power usage pattern and consumption, power consumption after installing sensors and the ROI based on the above. The ZeeSense proposal covers Total Cost of Ownership by taking into account all aspects of the solution including maintenance costs of sensors, reduced life of fluorescent lights and CFLs due to frequent switching by sensors, sensor life/sensor replacement costs etc. While customers initially think that these factors cost a lot of money, our analysis shows the following financial benefits to the customer:

• Break-even on initial investment between 6 to 12 months
• Power savings of 75% to 85% per month
• Returns of 5-6 times the investment over a 5 year period

ADVANTAGES AND VALUE-ADDS

Apart from the financial gains discussed in the following section, the ZeeSense solution offers the following advantages:

• The time for which the lights remain on after the person moves out of range is configurable between 30 seconds to 4 minutes. This ensures fine-tuning of the comfort level of customers.
• The sensors also detect ambient light (using the light sensor in the same motion sensor unit) and can be configured to switch on lights only when the ambient light level is below the pre-specified limit. This further increases power savings by not switching on lights during the day.
• The sensors are aesthetically designed and small in size, ensuring that the overall ‘looks’ of the building is not disturbed.
• The sensors are ceiling mounted, providing an elegant appearance and also minimizing vandalism. However, some sensors may be wall mounted where appropriate.
• All the lighting MCBs can be left on since the sensors will automatically switch on/off lights. Manual intervention is not required, making it much easier to operate.

IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY ALL THESE BENEFITS, TALK TO TO ZEESENSE!!