Christian Grubmüller, Technology and Fleet Management

For over more than twelve years, you have been responsible for technical and fleet management at the VTL system headquarters in Fulda. This includes 9,000 sqm of warehouse space and 700 sqm of office space.

Over a period of 3 years, around 50,000 kWh were saved here. How could that be achieved?

“We have successively switched to LED. In the offices for example, we removed 80 louvre luminaires and installed 74 new LED panels. The new LED panels now illuminate the offices more regularly and thus comply with workplace guidelines. In addition, they save approx. 65% in energy compared to the old luminaires. In figures – we save 4,762 watts of power in the office lighting.

And what about the situation at the warehouse?

The warehouse has already been modernised completely, only the external facade has not been finished yet. Here, defective spotlights are gradually being replaced by new LED spotlights. There is a reduction from 58 to 27 watts per spotlight. A total of 946 tubes have been replaced, resulting in a saving of 29,326 watts.

Can you also tell us something about the investment? When will this be amortised?

The adjustment to LED panels is a sustainable investment with an amortisation period of 2.6 years. There are no maintenance costs as the luminaires do not need to be replaced. Moreover, the service life of 50,000 hours is significantly longer than with conventional fluorescent tubes. If a lamp fails, there will be a 5-year guarantee. Furthermore, the panels also convinced with a very good light quality.

What other ecological projects are planned at the system headquarters?

To reduce greenhouse gas consumption, we have been successively replacing forklifts with battery-powered double-lift trucks for the past 2 years. Our long-term objective is to cover a part of the electricity required in the central hub with our own photovoltaic system.