Cruise and Ferry Review - Summer/Spring 2020

2 2 4 V IEWPOINT Going green with LED lights Beadlight’s LED lights provide cruise and ferry operators with a more sustainable alternative to traditional lights, allowing them to reduce their environmental impact N ow that their guests are increasingly concerned about the environment, cruise and ferry operators must make responsible changes to the way they design, outfit and operate their ships to improve their green credentials and avoid negative press. However, it’s difficult to make these improvements while controlling costs and staying competitive. Some improvements are easier to make than others. For example, changing fuel type is expensive, takes time and may affect running costs. However, operators can make use of new technologies to reduce their environmental impact without needing to redesign the core of their ships. An easy option is to replace all lights with LED lighting, which will drastically reduce power consumption and maintenance requirements, while providing guests with better lights to read by. Beadlight, which is a specialist LED lighting company, has an in-house design team that creates custom-designed mountings and fixtures to allow customers to change the lights easily without needing to redesign the cabins at a high cost. Historically LED lights have received negative press for being ‘too white’, but improvements in Beadlight’s LED technology means we can now replicate the warmth of a traditional incandescent bulb in LED form. Hence, ship operators can replace a traditional table light with an LED table light to obtain desired ambience in a guest cabin. Reading lights are where LEDs really excel. They can be used for ‘task lighting’ in shared rooms, enabling one person to use the light to read, while the person next to them continues to sleep in darkness. The main benefit for cruise and ferry operators is the significant reduction in maintenance. Once installed, a Beadlight LED light is designed to last more than 15 years without maintenance (other than being wiped clean with a soft cloth). There’s no need to replace bulbs, which in conjunction with other changes, could help to decrease the total number of maintenance staff required per ship. CFR Gina Amies is managing director of Beadlight Gina Amies: Beadlight