ERI Dark Skies Project

1 Apr 2021

The UCC Dark Skies Project.

Project Delivery

As part of the ERI building sustainability campaign the Estatesoffice, together with the building occupants, took theopportunity to redesign the lighting system to ensure it met the objectives of the UCC Biodiversity Action plan while still providing suitable lighting levels for the area. Directional lighting, i.e. lighting which only shines on access roads and not nearby countryside, will be used to prevent overspill. This was achieved by the design of the luminaire and by using accessories such as hoods, cowls, louvres and shields to direct the light to the intended area only.

Disano 3290

Buildings & Estates replaced thirty two 150 watt fixtures mounted on 5 metre poles with thirty two Disano 3290 64 watt lights. Each of these fixtures is fitted with a motion sensor. Each fixture operates at 100% of output on detection of an occupant and shall remain at 100% of output for 5 minutes after the person has left the detection distance. The fitting shall then dim to operate at 30% of output while still achieving the minimum required light levels for a carpark. All fittings are also to be on a central photocell together with a 7 day time switch, enabling the building occupants to schedule the operation of the light fittings and also to turn off when the building is closed.

Native bats

There are nine species of bat established in Ireland, some of which are widely distributed, while others are rather rare. Irish bats are the most diverse group of Ireland's terrestrial mammalian fauna, and as insectivores contribute greatly to healthy functioning ecosystems. All Irish bat species are protected by national law (Wildlife Act) and EU law (Habitats Directive), meaning that certain protections of their roosting, breeding and foraging habitats should be maintained. Heritage buildings, hedgerows and mature trees are importan landscape features for bat conservation. In particular, the River Lee and its riparian habitats are important foraging areas for bats in Cork City.

A number of bat species are known to occur in and around UCC campus including the Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, Brown Long-eared, Lesser Noctule and Daubentons Bat. The UCC Biodiversity Action Plan (2018-2023) has committed to the conservation of existing bat roots on campus and the enhancement of foraging habitats through a number of actions. An Irish bat typically becomes active in late spring and early summer. As the days and nights warm up a bat flies out to forage for insects for progressively longer periods at night. In general artificial light creates a barrier to commuting bats so onsite lighting should be minimised as it deters some bat
species during the active bat season from March until the end of September.

If artificial light was to remain in place commuting bats would not use the general vicinity for nocturnal foraging of insects and would not avail of areas that could provide suitable roosting habitats. To minimise the effects of artificial lighting Buildings & Estates carried out this project in the ERI car park in July 2019.

Outcomes and Benefits

The project commenced in July 2019 was succesfully completed in September 2019 at a cost of €13,937 for the car park installation. Cost benefit analysis was carried out on the assumption that the lighting would be at 100% output for half the time and 30% output for the other half.

The kWh usage would reduce from 17,520 kWh a year to 4,236 kWh a year representing a reduction of 76%. The cost savings also comes in at 76% as the cost is reduced from €3,328 a year to €840 a year representing an annual saving of €2,488 euro a year. Payback for the project was 5.6 years

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Brian Walsh (Buildings and Estates), the ERI team, UCC Biodiversity plan and guidance from the team at Dark Skies Ireland