C3 Logistics Centre

Bremen, Germany

Global seaport service provider BLG Logistics has now opened its highly sustainable C3 Logistics Centre project in Bremen, Germany.

Supporting the building’s holistic energy strategy, the Thorlux SmartScan lighting system installed on site uses intelligent occupancy and daylight sensing to provide optimal lighting levels, enhance energy efficiency, and help minimise electricity consumption and costs.

Applications Covered:

Warehouse and Logistics

The Challenge

The new building presented an opportunity to future-proof the lighting system from the initial designs. Roman Tepperwien, account manager at Thorlux Lighting’s German subsidiary SchahlLED Lighting GmbH, said: “It was clear to everyone involved at the time: for a project aiming for a gold medal in energy efficiency, you cannot start out with outdated lighting technology.”

Following a thorough cost-benefit analysis and comprehensive energy efficiency calculations, BLG Logistics opted for the proposals put forward by SchahlLED.

The Solution

Thorlux products are fitted throughout the C3 facility, including nearly 1,000 Visio luminaires plus emergency lighting. The luminaires are controlled by the SmartScan wireless system, using integral sensors to monitor ambient light and automatically adjust output. This ensures a constant brightness level while minimising energy consumption. Multiple on-site SmartScan gateway devices monitor the luminaires via the secure 868-megahertz frequency, uploading information to the secure web platform.

In the aisles at C3, SmartScan automatically dims or switches off the lighting after a pre-programmed period of no motion detected. “We can change the time interval before the lights dim or switch off at any time, thereby further optimising energy efficiency,” reports the BLG project team.

In fact, normal operations showed the initial C3 delay intervals were unnecessarily long, switching to standby after 20 minutes without occupancy. This delay was adjusted to 10 minutes, then to five. Targeted fine-tuning reduces costs even further, providing light only when needed, as much as needed. In this instance, annual energy costs for the first two years of operation are around 50% lower than the originally forecast figure.

As the luminaires are not in constant operation but also have dimming and standby phases, extending the service life of each individual unit compared to continuous lighting, further improving the sustainability of the project.

The commitment to sustainability has paid off for BLG Logistics; in autumn 2023, C3 Bremen received a special award from the German Mobility Industry, for which heating, hot water, ventilation, comprehensive building insulation, and intelligent lighting control were deciding factors. This makes it clear that C3 Bremen is not just another warehouse, but a forward-looking model for the entire logistics sector.

Photos courtesy of BLG Logistics (Jan Meier, Sandra Beckfeldt)