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National Trust's ‘Big Switch’

With the impacts of climate change increasingly affecting the historic buildings, gardens, countryside and coast in The National Trust’s care, they take considerable time and energy to reduce their carbon footprint and change their use of technology to increase efficiency and to conserve energy.

Lighting Services met with The National Trust over a year ago to help bring about change in both application and education of energy saving lighting within The Trust. This was the start of the ‘Big Switch’, a widely known about conversion from old to new technology.


Thanks to the 'Big Switch' St Michaels Mount, Cornwall, will make annual savings of  over £7,500 and reduce carbon emmisions by over 44 tons

The ‘Big Switch’ quickly became the term given to a three way project between The National Trust, Lighting Services and Philips Lighting. The aim? To convert every single lamp, in every single property to an energy saving or longer life equivalent where possible.
 


Some of the primary Philips products supplied to Trust properties

With nearly five hundred different properties it was always going to be a challenge to get the individuals within the Trust to understand what to change to. With the variety of energy savers on the market there was also the added problem of choosing the correct equivalent for the correct application. With hundreds of historically sensitive areas within the National Trust’s properties it was simply not just a case of switching incandescent to compact fluorescent. It was to be a much more complex exercise. An example of the complexity was illustrated with the use of a new lamp which was launched in association with the ‘Big Switch. The Philips Master Classic. Thousands of these UV sensitive, dimmable halogen lamps were installed in appropriate areas.

Lighting Services’ online shop became a valuable tool in the ‘Big Switch’. With the ability to help users find their current technology it presents a range of alternatives which are suitable for different applications and environments. Personalised to The Trust’s needs, as our shop is for all online clients, we were able to smoothly process over 600 National Trust orders within 3 months!

Not one complaint was received on the usability of the online tool and the turnaround from order to lamp dispatch was always within seven working days. For a project this size we were all delighted with the results.

Read more about our online shop and becoming a Lighting Services’ corporate client.