Green lighting solutions for agriculture

At light manufacturer RN Solutions, high electricity prices have contributed to the bottom line, because when agriculture turns down the power and up the green transition, the company's energy-saving stable lighting is in high demand.

Even though electricity prices are moving towards a more tolerable level, there may be many green reasons to focus on more than just electricity consumption. With concepts like ESG and producer responsibility reaching further down the energy chain, there are plenty of good reasons to include it in one's assortment, as, in this light, almost everything can have a green connotation.

– When a light source has served its lifetime, it doesn't make sense to throw away eight kilograms of aluminum if it can be managed by replacing the LED and driver. We also think about durability, which means, among other things, that our products are coated against ammonia. When the products are coated for the environment they are going to work in, they don't have to be replaced as often as might otherwise be the case, explains Rune Nielsen, adding that RN Solutions, on this basis, offers a 5-year warranty on its lighting solutions.

Rune Nielsen also believes that it is important to incorporate ESG into the product solution so that the light can also be highlighted by the end-users when an ESG report is drawn up.

-We also focus heavily on increased productivity through proper lighting. It is also a way to optimize resources, because with increased animal welfare follows increased productivity. With the correct lighting, you can increase productivity without pressing the animals. Both animals and humans are simply more productive with optimal light, explains Rune Nielsen.

Durability and focus on waste
Rune Nielsen, with a past as a pig producer, has an in-depth knowledge of what works – and what definitely doesn't work – in a stable. RN Solutions often experience when preparing offers that initially there has been no consideration for the harsh environment in the stable.

-For example, we often see that pendant lamps with cooling fins are used on cattle farms. This results in dust and moisture in the cooling fins, and they burn out. And even though products are bought as waterproof, ammonia can almost always get in, says Rune Nielsen, explaining that lamps generate draft heat, so the gas seeps into the lamp, and RN Solutions products are therefore protected with a coating of the LED and the driver unit.

RN Solutions' light sources are both energy-reducing and largely dimmable, and in several of the light sources, the internals can also be easily replaced, as Rune Nielsen is convinced that it will be a great advantage when the EU introduces increasingly greater requirements for producer responsibility in terms of waste management in the coming years. It also means that when you can change parts, the warehouse doesn't have to be so big, and the installer doesn't have to carry a defective luminaire back with the box and everything if it's only single parts that need to be replaced.

-Our Plug’N Play solutions are easy to replace. It also means that it doesn't have to be the installer who makes the replacement. It can be done by the farmer himself. It saves both driving and working time for a relatively small and easy task, and the new luminaire can be sent directly to the farmer, says Rune Nielsen.

At RN Solutions, they find that many customers choose to have some spare parts in stock, because if a farmer has 1500 light sources, it is inevitable that damage to the light will occur.

The focus on reducing waste doesn't just apply to the luminaire and components, as RN Solutions has also chosen to switch to minimal packaging to create less waste, which must later be disposed of, to the annoyance of either the farmer or the installer.

-Before, the tubes were individually wrapped in plastic, but now the plastic has been removed, and spacers have been inserted. It simply doesn't make sense to spend many resources on packaging just to unpack again when it doesn't have a positive impact on the product, says Rune Nielsen, who also finds that it has become much easier to sort the waste when it is found on a component basis, so LEDs, drivers, and luminaire housing can be sorted separately.