Edinburgh Festival has seen Philips Selecon join forces with power monitoring company, Energeno, and one of the biggest venue producers on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - C venues - to examine the positive impact LED lighting can have on power consumption in a fringe venue running 24/7.
Philips Selecon is working in collaboration with C venues’ production manager Richard Williamson and artistic director (and international lighting designer) Hartley Kemp, to incorporate Selecon LED luminaires into existing lighting rigs at C venues newest hub venue, C nova, the largest pop-up venue on the Fringe.

"Our priority is to deliver a lighting system that allows C venues’ users total creative flexibility and expression, yet is as low-energy as possible, says Grant Bales-Smith, sales manager for Strand Selecon Europe. On this occasion we’ve supplied 18 Acclaim LED Fresnels, six Acclaim LED Profiles and six PLCyc01. Output power in warm white per unit is just over 2000 lumens, making them equivalent to around 400w in a conventional tungsten source. This makes them an ideal choice for small studio applications. Maximum power draw of each unit is 150w but this varies depending on the output and the colours mix - as low as 26w for saturated red and around 89w for warm white at full.

Williamson adds: "The Selecon fixtures we’re using make total sense on all fronts - creatively, practically and logistically. The luminaires sit very comfortably with the demanding schedule, fast set up and turnarounds of an Edinburgh festival venue."

To ensure the installation ran smoothly Philips Selecon’s Bill Richards and Amber Tomlin were on hand in the fit up week to offer training and advice. Richards, who also installed the Energeno power monitoring system, explains: "The Energeno Wattson system measures the current over time and logs it in a database to give real time data online. This enables us to monitor power consumption remotely. It will also help us set the benchmarks for the coming years. As lighting rigs become increasingly populated with LED and low energy luminaires we will be able to see the impact it has on power consumption, year on year."

Mark Elliott, director of operations at Energeno, adds: "The Wattson range offers a versatile portfolio of solutions which enable businesses to deliver on their environmental responsibilities and reduce energy costs. By using our Wattson Professional model, C venues is able to measure the performance of their installations in multiple locations, see their energy use in real time and inevitably, make an informed decision about their exact energy requirements moving forward. We’re delighted to be involved in this project."

While the plan is to document the all-important numbers, Philips Selecon also wants to gauge the responses of the artists and technicians working in the venue. At the end of the Festival, Philips Selecon and C venues will compile a report detailing the successes and look at where issues may have arisen. It will also detail recommendations for next year's event. This report will be available for download from the Philips Selecon website towards the end of the year.

Hartley Kemp, artistic director for C venues comments: "I’m delighted that we are able to take positive steps to explore the benefits of using low-energy light sources, and to reduce our CO2 emissions, waste and environmental impact. This exercise will give us further context and benchmarks by which to achieve effective results year on year. As a lighting designer when I’m not running Festival venues, I’m also very interested to see the new Selecon LED fixtures in performance."