Coca-Cola cuts carbon emissions in UK plant

Coca-Cola Enterprises, the company responsible for manufacturing and distributing Coca Cola products in the UK, is piloting a low-energy light to help cut costs and carbon emissions at one of its main UK bottling plants.

Around 100 Somar Eluma light fittings have been installed across the Edmonton, north London, facility – Coca-Cola Enterprises’ third largest by volume in Europe – which handles 750-million liters of drink every year.

It’s estimated the fittings will cut lighting bills by more than 70 percent – or almost GBP 30,000 a year – and, through reduced energy consumption, annually save 193 tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s the equivalent CO2 needed to put the fizz into 22-million one-liter bottles.

The lights have been rolled out to other Coca Cola drinks plants in Milton Keynes and Wakefield, and the beverage giant is now considering adopting them across Europe.

Such energy savings are possible as the Somar Eluma lights run off a maximum connected load of 230-watts – roughly half that of the conventional bulbs used previously – and feature sensors that continually monitor incoming natural light and dim, or switch off, according to interior lux levels. A motion detector also reduces light output when areas are unoccupied.

Low-energy lighting is part of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ wider commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by investing in ‘green’ technologies; notably, the Edmonton plant micro-monitors energy use on each individual piece of machinery to assess where efficiency savings can be made.

Coca-Cola Enterprises electrical control consultant at Edmonton, Pete Kinsella, said: ‘Addressing the issue of lights burning 24-7, even in areas that receive minimal foot traffic, was a priority. The lights’ sensors tackle the problem and deliver additional savings.’

Somar energy efficiency specialist Keith Wyatt said light maintenance is a major industry headache: ‘Light output from conventional bulbs, like metal halides commonly seen in bottling plants across the UK, degrades by around 35 to 40 percent in the first year alone and they generally need replacing after 15,000 hours. However, today’s high-tech luminaires typically deliver consistent light for more than 30,000 hours and thus significantly reduce maintenance demands.’

Click here for more stories about Coca-Cola on L&L.com.