Efficient lighting control via presence detectors and motion detectors in the Bretterbude Büsum
Task
- Presence and motion-dependent lighting control
- More lighting flexibility
- Reduction in energy consumption of the lighting
Solution
- KNX system with Theben presence detectors, motion detectors and KNX dimming actuators
Theben presence detectors and motion detectors as well as KNX dimming actuators provide presence- and motion-dependent as well as energy-efficient lighting control for the hotel concept of the new Bretterbude in Büsum, whose premiere in Heiligenhafen was already named Hotel Property of the Year in 2017.
With 1.9 million overnight stays per year, Büsum is one of the most popular places on the North Sea and, in addition to its family-friendly orientation, is particularly popular for the beach promenade, its lighthouse, crab fishing and the Wadden Sea. The town is booming and is constantly transforming into a trendy location for short and long-term vacations. In the middle of it all there is a hotel that has so far outshone all the other local concepts and simply stands out – the newly opened Bretterbude in Büsum. Installed are KNX presence detectors and motion detectors as well as KNX dimming actuators from Theben.
Hotel industry must become more efficient
"In the current economic climate, especially the enormous rise in inflation, which we are of course feeling massively in the hotel business, makes energy-efficient and cost-conscious action essential," says Jens U. Sroka, owner and managing director of Heimathafen Hotels. "As part of a sustainable energy maxim and through the use of intelligent building automation, we can also use energy more efficiently and thus save costs at the Bretterbude. This is currently very important and will not lose its significance in the future."
Energy-efficient lighting control sets a precedent
Against this backdrop, the importance of motion and presence-dependent lighting control in the hotel industry is constantly increasing. Particularly in new buildings, building owners and planners often aim to measurably reduce energy consumption using presence detectors and motion detectors. Apart from these aspects, successful hoteliers such as Jens U. Sroka and architect Thomas Ladehoff, who specializes in hotel projects, have been relying on Theben's reliability and solution expertise for years.
"We are currently managing eight and soon 10 hotel projects, in northern Germany and Hamburg, very successfully and are very keen to offer our guests the best possible overall experience," says Jens U. Sroka. "This in turn requires us to have maximum flexibility in all areas of cost generation, e.g. lighting and energy consumption, in order to be able to control these intelligently. We only want to use energy when it is really needed, e.g. through automatic lighting control with presence and motion detectors."
For the Hotelier of the Year 2019, it is important that his hotels not only appeal to guests in terms of their design, but are also perceived as contemporary, architectural and sustainable places. "Building automation from Theben is an important building block for us here. We don't always start with all the possibilities offered by KNX in our new buildings, but rather develop dynamically into automation. This is because it is usually only during operation that it becomes clear where the greatest need for action exists," says the entrepreneur of the new German coastal hotel industry.
Flicker-free dimming with high LED dimming power
"To enable convenient lighting control, we integrated KNX dimming actuators from Theben as the basis for lighting control in the KNX system." Reports architect Thomas Ladehoff. Theben KNX dimming actuators such as the installed DM 8-2 T KNX offer high LED dimming outputs of up to 200 watts per channel and enable flicker-free, linear dimming of all LED light sources, provided the light source supports this. And not just on paper, but tried and tested in countless projects. By connecting channels in parallel, the output of the DM 8-2 T KNX can be increased to up to 400 watts of LED power. The dimming actuators also recognize how the LED light source should ideally be controlled thanks to automatic load detection. Possible disruptive factors, such as extremely high inrush currents that lead to a restart or a renewed search for the correct dimming path, can also be avoided by making settings in the Theben KNX application.
Flexible lighting control in dark corridors
"The architectural concept of the new Bretterbude building is based on the lobster huts on Heligoland and looks like it has been divided into small individual houses," says architect Thomas Ladehoff. "We took the board theme a step further and incorporated all kinds of board sports in the interior and exterior areas as well as in the room design."
"It was important to us to create a vintage or even used look. For example, the floors are poured bare concrete, the concrete and the stones of the shell are not plastered at all or only roughly plastered and our doors have very obvious paint marks" says Thomas Ladehoff. This is exactly what goes down extremely well with the guests in the Bretterbude. The feeling is young, but not "hostel-like", but equipped with all the amenities, including structural ones of course, that a solvent hotel guest can and should expect.
"We have very deliberately left the usually dark hotel corridors dark and only allowed specific lighting, which is controlled by Theben motion detectors. “Adjusted delay times ensure that, for example, the lights in the stairwells stay on longer than in the corridors,” reports the hotel’s architect.”