A few years ago being ‘green’ was a high profile string to the bow of many businesses. Focus on the so-called ‘green agenda’ was driven by the need to meet increasingly stringent emissions legislation, but also emphasising a commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.
Given the global financial meltdown and the recession that followed, the ‘green agenda’ may appear to have fallen by the wayside, but this is not actually the case.
The security sector, like most other parts of the economy, is realising that ‘being green’ needn’t mean spending more money. In actual fact, saving energy and resources always makes very sound business sense and is arguably now more important than ever.
For its part, the access control sector is no different to the rest of the security market in that its customers are looking for solutions that not only offer reasonable upfront prices but also ways in which to cut running costs and gain the maximum potential from any investment made.
To date, the access control sector has approached the situation on two levels. First, by making the actual systems more energy efficient and, second, by ensuring greater synergy and integration between access control and other essential building services such as heating, lighting, CCTV, fire and security per se.
Energy savings on top of reliability and performance
Traditionally, consumers were particularly interested in the cost price and performance when they specified their access control systems. Consequently, as an industry, we sold systems that addressed this and it proved to be a good business model.
However, environmental concerns linked with Government legislation and the associated cost implications mean that we, as an industry, now need to offer energy savings while maintaining reliability and performance. This is driving product development every bit as much as the other factors involved.
Many organisations start by targeting the ‘low hanging fruit’ and use low energy light sources in their office environments to immediately cut down on energy use and the carbon footprint. TDSi isn’t alone in this respect: our switch to low energy lighting last year has produced a saving in CO2 emissions of three tonnes per annum as well as a reduction in the amount of electricity we consume and, therefore, have to pay for at billing time.
Switched-mode power supplies are also rapidly gaining in popularity. Such supplies can offer sizable saving in energy consumption by incorporating a switching regulator in order to be highly efficient in the conversion of electrical power.
Unlike a more traditional linear power supply, the pass transistor of a switching mode supply continually switches between low-dissipation full-on and full-off states and spends very little time in the high dissipation transitions (which minimises wasted energy).
Testing the two different approaches
Having made a strategic decision to move in this direction, we tested the two approaches to see how much of a difference it could make to our customers in the operation and cost of running their TDSi access control systems. We calculated that using switch mode power supplies in place of linear systems with their transformers would save users, on average, an impressive GB pound 50 per controller per year in terms of energy costs.
Saving energy on each appliance provides a solid foundation on which to cut operational costs. However, to build on this requires the integration of all the different system components so as to offer a more efficient solution.
The ability to integrate access control systems with other building services (such as heating or lighting, for example) brings significant long-term energy saving benefits. By ensuring that all these systems are only fully activated when they’re actually needed, users can minimise wastage of resources when a given facility is empty while still offering full services during busy periods.
Integrating different systems can also help to remove redundant parts of the network, in turn allowing modern controllers to run a number of different systems and further optimise energy consumption.
As well as improving technology there’s even more that vendors and installers can do to help clients optimise their access control systems and cut energy use. While replacing legacy systems with more efficient technology is a sound long-term financial investment, persuading customers to replace older systems prematurely can be something that CFOs find uncomfortable before the natural lifespan of their previous investments ends.
Incentives on new systems
An excellent way to address this situation is to offer discounts or incentives on new systems in return for scrapping older technology (in a similar model to the highly publicised UK car scrappage scheme that was organised by the Government a few years ago to stimulate sales of new products).
Being able to offer attractively-priced new systems with ‘value add’ bonuses such as warranties and servicing deals, along with the ready availability of parts and reduced running costs, the upgrading of access control systems can contribute to a very strong case and sound investment for any customer looking to wring maximum value for money from its FM budget.
Despite preconceptions to the contrary, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that ‘going green’ is still a very sound sales message. Even ignoring the wider environmental and CSR issues, it can make an excellent sales case for a market that, undoubtedly, is still looking at access control spend with ever increasing scrutiny.
What the access control sector – and, indeed, the wider security sector – needs to do is embrace the efforts already underway and further promote the wider benefits of an ethos that, if done well, realises benefits for all those involved.
John Davies is managing director of TDSi and chairman of the BSIA’s Export Council
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