Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) Abu Dhabi, UAE

Masdar City is the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, powered entirely by renewable energy, and the Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, located at the heart of the City, is the world’s first university focused on future energy.

The 1500-place university, developed in cooperation with MIT, creates a nucleus of scientific research in advanced energy and sustainability technologies. The university buildings receive power from rooftop photovoltaics as well as remote solar energy arrays while wind towers cool outside air before delivering it to residential units and the facilities inside.

A Delmatic system optimises energy efficiency throughout the campus including study areas, laboratories, offices, as well as within student accommodation. Sustainability is top of the agenda and the Delmatic system considers every watt of power to reduce the demands on sustainable energy. The Delmatic system provides networked control of lighting, combines the technologies of IP, Lon and Dali for high-speed, energy-efficient control, and provides comprehensive real-time management & monitoring via active graphical software. Dali digital dimming enables lighting levels to be finely controlled and substantial energy savings to be subtly achieved.

To maximise efficiency, lighting is related to presence and absence within precise areas of the project while lighting levels continually adjust to take account of daylight levels. To enhance overall sustainability the Delmatic system logs the number of hours each lamp has been in operation and compares this with the manufacturers’ lamp life data to create recommended relamping schedules: these avoid the premature replacement of luminaires (with the associated environmental & disposal issues) and ensure that luminaires are retired at the optimum point.

The system also monitors individual lamp operation and highlights lamp and ballast failure in real time. The use of open protocols enables seamless integration with other energy-consuming building services including heating, ventilation and cooling, so that both lighting and air-conditioning can be linked to occupation. The system is fully dynamic and receives signals from the power generation system to initiate loadshedding routines: these match demand for power with the finite renewable energy available and selectively dim lighting across the site to reduce power demand.

Delmatic technology was preferred as their innovative Zero Power Dali modules eliminated the standby power of digital lighting and therefore achieved greater energy savings than other systems on the market. Also the Delmatic system used a single network for the connection of all devices thereby reducing the extent of cabling and minimising the use of scarce resources including copper.