Sports centre reduce electricity costs by 50% with LED lighting

Cricket training centre saves on energy costs and improves the quality of their service with LED lighting upgrade

Premier Cricket on Brisbane’s Northside has significantly improved the lighting quality in their indoor training centre while halving their electricity bills by switching to LED lighting.

Based in Brendale, Premier Cricket provides specialised training and practise opportunities for players of all ages in an indoor setting. The business operates 7 days per week and is one of the few facilities in the Brisbane region offering cricketers an all-weather training option. Positioned as a leading training facility in Brisbane for the past 19 years, the quality of the facility is a crucial factor in the success of the business.

Problem

Before the lighting upgrade, the training facility was fitted with twelve 400 Watt, Metal Halide, High Bay lights. The Metal Halide lights used a lot of energy, created unwanted heat and provided a “less than ideal” quality of light.

“It was difficult to get a consistent lighting temperature from the old bulbs and they ended up being a mixture of warm and cool lights which gave an inconsistent lighting colour. This colour variation was not ideal for practising cricket,” shared Rick Heilbronn from Premier Cricket.

Solution

“My last electricity bill was close to half of my previous bills and this is entirely due to the switch to LED lighting!” remarked Rick Heilbronn.

In 2020, Premier Cricket received a grant to switch their old lights for better quality LED lights. The previously existing Metal Halide lights were replaced with fifteen 170 Watt LED lights. The resulting change in light quality was outstanding and the differences were immediately noticed by customers. Not only has Premier Cricket improved the quality of the lighting, their energy bills have almost halved.

Costs

The cost for the fifteen new LED lights was $2800. Due to the complexity of accessing the lighting positions through the cricket nets, installation of the lights (and resewing of the nets) was $2400.  Based on the savings on electricity costs this works out to a 2 year payback period for the cost of the lights.

Premier Cricket received a funding as a part of the Energy Efficient Communities Grant program. Get the latest updates on new funding available, and other sustainable business deals and information with the Brisbane Sustainability Agency Newsletter.