Users of the reading hall of the Oulu City Main Library can now enjoy their magazines under new high-quality lighting, courtesy of Valtavalo Ltd, who has installed a total of 115 Finnish-made LED tubes in the reading hall’s existing lighting fixtures.
The project began last Autumn when Valtavalo organised a competition to celebrate the Finnish Energy Awareness Week. In the competition, Valtavalo invited people to nominate public premises in their community that would benefit from better lighting solutions. The reading hall of the Oulu City Main Library, which received several nominations, was selected as the winner.
Oulu City Main Library first to receive new G4 LED tubes
After investigating the premises on-site, Valtavalo performed the installation of the new lighting tubes in February 2016. The tube type used in the reading hall was the new G4 LED tube, which was first introduced at the electricity exhibition in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the beginning of February. The reading hall is the first site to have the new flicker-free LED tubes.
The G4 LED tube is the very first flicker-free LED tube on the market and ideal for reading halls as according to several studies, flickering of electric lights may cause, for example, headaches or it may even double the speed of eye movements, which slows down reading speed”, says Markku Laatikainen, Valtavalo’s CEO.
The flicker percentage of fluorescent tubes and typical competing LED tubes is about 30%, whereas the percentage for the Valtavalo G4 LED tube is under 5%. Our LED tubes are particularly designed for workplaces and facilities where people remain for long periods and where they must be able to see well”, Laatikainen continues.
Improvement in the light quality and energy savings
The measurements carried out in the reading hall before and after the instalment of the new LED tubes showed that while the level of lighting in the hall remained the same, colour rendition improved and flickering was practically eliminated. To the naked eye, however, the level of lighting seems to have increased and the light is whiter and purer than before.
In addition to the improvements in the quality of light, the energy costs from the reading-hall lighting will dramatically decrease: LED tubes consume only approximately a third of the energy required by traditional fluorescent tubes. The G4 LED tube’s long lifespan of 125,000 hours will also bring savings: over the same period of time, the fluorescent tube would have to be replaced up to 12 times.
At libraries, the daily use rate of luminaires is very high as the lights are on all day long. Therefore, the new tubes will bring significant savings”, says Jyrki Kumpuniemi, Head of Building Systems at the Real Estate Department of the City of Oulu.
According to Kumpuniemi, customer satisfaction has also been taken into account when designing the reading hall lighting.
Library customers will also be given the opportunity to give feedback on the new lighting.”
Valtavalo G4 LED tubes are manufactured at Valtavalo’s own production plant in Kajaani, Finland, using the latest automation technology. This summer, Valtavalo will construct a second fully automated production line at the plant, which will multiply its LED tube production volume.
