Case study: St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery

Replacing old fluorescent bulbs with new LED lighting can have a huge impact on your school’s carbon footprint, as well as on the health and productivity of your staff and students.

For schools looking to go green, LED lighting should be one of the first things to look into.

St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery did just that, and it’s already reaping the benefits of its new energy-efficient system.

Here, we’ll look at how the school found its ideal solution, and the things you should be aware of when considering new LED lighting systems.

What was St Christopher’s School looking for?

Ben Cottell, the School Bursar, was in charge of sourcing the right LED solution for St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery.

The school’s lighting equipment was a mix of traditional solutions, including:

• T8 fluorescent lighting (a combination of 4ft, 5ft and 6ft bulbs)
• GLS incandescent lamps
• GU10 halogen lamps
• Halogen downlights

These are incredibly inefficient and expensive to run, so Ben decided to look for a lighting system that would “reduce energy use” and “save money”.

That’s what attracted him to LED lighting solutions. This relatively new technology uses very little energy but is long-lasting and extremely easy to implement.

Add to that the bonus of improving students’ health and productivity, and Ben knew that LED lights were the right solution for St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery.

After receiving recommendations from Utility Rentals, St Christopher’s chose a range of premium grade LED products that are ideal for schools and the classroom environment.

These new high-quality LED bulbs and fittings included:

• T8 LED tubes (a combination of 4ft, 5ft and 6ft bulbs)
• GLS LED lamps
• GU10 LED lamps
• LED downlights

The LEDs recommended by Utility Rentals represent some of the most energy-efficient products on the market, are of premium quality and are extremely reliable.

Whilst there are other LED solutions which are cheaper, selecting these for a school is a false economy as they often fail and need replacing. The lights Ben selected will last much longer as they have a useful life expectancy of over 50,000 hours and eliminate the need for costly maintenance and replacements.

What to consider when looking for LED lighting

Here are the factors St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery viewed most important when selecting its LED lighting solution. Perhaps this will help you choose your perfect lighting system, too:

1. Reduce carbon footprint

LED lighting is the most energy-efficient form of lighting. St Christopher’s original fluorescent bulbs ran on approximately 32-40 watts. However, their new LED replacements run on almost half that (12-18 watts).

So, by switching to LEDs, you can dramatically decrease your carbon footprint and your electricity bills.

St Christopher’s will save approximately 12,389 kWh in total energy used each year, and its carbon reduction will come in at 6,653 kg per year. An impressive result!

2. Improves the school environment

Ben said that the LED lighting has made a noticeable difference to the school. There is now much “better lighting in classrooms” as the lights don’t flicker or need to warm up. The warm and cool whites are also more conducive to learning.

The spherical light pattern brightens the room more effectively than fluorescent lights ever did, without being too harsh or damaging the students’ eyes.

Soon we expect to see a boost in the grades achieved by St Christopher’s students; after all, statistics report a 33% increase in student productivity after installing LED lights!

3. Affordable and flexible payment plan

The total cost for the installation of the new LED lighting was £2,400. St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery will pay this back over 1.35 years, spreading the cost through Utility Rentals’ leasing plan.

The annual savings generated by this new energy-efficient system come to £1,780 per year.

The LED lights will also save on maintenance costs. The school won’t need to replace them every 2.5 years, like it did with fluorescent bulbs. In fact, most LED lights have a life expectancy of over 10 years (approx. 50,000 hours).

The school can simply set them and forget them for a few years – how good is that?

The Utility Rentals’ touch

St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery was working to a tight deadline, which Utility Rentals successfully met.

The installation of the equipment took place in term time but had minimal disruption to the students’ education. With Utility Rentals, there’s no need to wait for term to end as we’ll work to your deadline in an efficient manner and get your new system up-and-running in no time.

Ben chose Utility Rentals because he had “worked with them previously on hand dryers and they were very efficient”. He’s now even more likely to recommend us to friends and colleagues who need help financing their equipment.

He was especially impressed with account manager, Gemma, who was “very good throughout the process”. She supported the school from beginning to end and was always on hand to answer any queries.

Another thing Ben particularly liked was the “whole maintenance package offered”, which includes a full-term parts warranty. This means that if any of the lights or fittings fail during the rental period, Utility Rentals will provide a free replacement.

The bespoke LED lighting system was the best solution for St Christopher’s Prep School and Nursery. It helped the school achieve its goals of reducing its carbon footprint and energy costs and is set to really improve the learning environment too.

If you think your school could benefit from LED lighting, talk to our experts today!