Sustainable lighting system design for retrofitting

RMIT's Building 28 Research Lounge was used as a pilot research project to investigate the feasibility of DC lighting system and accumulate benchmarking data for future research reference. Unlike conventional light-for-light replacement, the B28 project takes an innovative approach to re-design the lighting circuit in DC mode without re-wiring. The intelligent control system manages charging and discharging of the battery bank depending on whether solar power is available or grid power back up is needed. Based on a two-week benchmark data log, the result shows a total energy reduction from 210 kWh to 71 kWh, representing a saving of 65%.