Schiphol enhances the sustainability of its staff car park lights

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is enhancing the sustainability of its staff car parks by installing new LED lighting, enabling the airport to achieve energy savings of forty to seventy per cent per car park.

The 544 conventional high-pressure sodium lamps at the P40 parking area were replaced with white Moonlight LED lights. This will reduce the amount of energy used here by 137,000 kWh per year (the amount of electricity consumed by 39 households on an annual basis) and the amount of CO₂ emitted by over 77.5 tonnes. Additionally, LED lighting produces less light pollution and will require less maintenance and management, as the LED fittings have a service life that spans two decades.

The P5 parking area and the P12 parking deck have also been equipped with LED lighting. In P5 this will lead to energy savings of 38,120 kWh (ten times the amount of electricity consumed each year by an average household) and a 21.6-tonne reduction in the amount of CO₂ emitted. The P12 parking deck will now be able to boast energy savings of 26,000 kWh (the amount of energy consumed annually by seven households) and a reduction in the amount of CO₂ emitted of 15 tonnes.

The next few years will see the gradual replacement of conventional lighting with LED lighting at the remaining parking areas.

Efficient and economical energy management

The use of LED lighting is one of the initiatives launched by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to promote an efficient and economical use of energy. LED lighting was already being used in the departure and arrival halls, as well as in various parts of the terminal lounges, spotlights for art objects, traffic lights, emergency lighting and Christmas lighting. Buildings at the airport provided with LED lighting include the TransPort office building, the Airfreight Centre and the Freightway conference centre. LED lighting has also been installed in the tunnel for apron traffic under Runway 06-24 and in the big Schiphol advertising towers and billboards.

Replacing conventional lighting with LED lighting has enabled the airport to save the equivalent of 460 households’ annual energy consumption. We expect this figure to grow to 550 households in 2012.

Another initiative developed by Schiphol to promote energy efficiency is the application of geothermal energy to heat and air-condition the terminal, the TransPort office building and the Schiphol Group head office.