Responsible lighting in nature and sports centre

Piispala is a nature, sports and youth centre in Central Finland at the lake Kivijärvi. Supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education, the centre is a favorite destination for a variety of sport and educational activities, especially for environmental education for the youth.

Multitude of sports facilities include an ice hockey rink, a swimming hall, several gyms, variety of athletic tracks and outdoor paths. Lighting needs are varied. In 2010 six kilometers of cross country skiing tracks got new lights when old mercury-vapor lamps were changed to new Easy LED Starium Dragon 60 UP lighting fixtures. New installation includes 80 lamps. Savings per lamp are about 100 W.

Feedback from professional skiers has been very positive. The light provided by LEDs is considered much better. The profile of the skiing track is more visible and in general the path is better lit. Counting per year, costs are generously cut down in energy consumption.

At the same time outdoor lighting of the centre was improved by installing Easy LED lighting fixtures on the yard of the centre´s canteen building . The yard has now about 20 pcs of new Boll 400 and Boll 500 luminaires.

Investments in LED-technology will continue also in the future. "Our plan is to change luminaires in two indoor sport arenas to Finnish LED-lighting fixtures", says chief of facilities, Mr. Reijo Kinnunen.