Our Green Agenda

The environment is a massive issue right now and going forward it is going to be more and more important, however, this has been vital to Moonlight Design for many years. When we started 18 years ago it was about reducing the bulb size e.g. from 50watts to 20watts so at least we were reducing the amount of power the client was using. On top of this, we were conscious about not selling lights for the sake of making a profit but to keep the scheme well illuminated but to a minimum; our motto is, less is more.

We need light for tasks in and outside the home, it is a vital element of our daily life. Of course, lighting and the environment don’t exactly sit together comfortably, however, with LEDs and intelligent controllers, it can be so much better than it used to be.

This is where good design comes into play and how a lighting scheme can be useful without being wasteful.

However, caring about the environment isn’t just about our designs, it’s choosing the right lights for their output versus the power consumed. What the lights are made from and can these fittings be maintained rather than just throw them away when they stop working.

On top of this, as we install them as well, what about the packaging the lights come in, where does that go? We make sure that all recycling is kept apart from rubbish and that this is indeed, recycled.

We are members of Recolight which is an award-winning recycling compliance organisation where the promotion recycling of old light fittings and their components to stop them going into landfills. This is very important as there are vital components made from metal and minerals that can be reused again.

It is a big picture though than just choosing the right light fittings. We are all too aware that we have vans that all use diesel and we cover thousands of miles per year. We have looked into battery operated vans and there is no doubt, if we could buy them, we would. Of course, they are available but they just don’t cover the miles we do without needing a charge and it would be almost impossible to make it work. However, long term this will eventually happen and as soon as it does, we will be first on the list ready to buy.

What can we do in the meantime though is to offset our CO2 that we produce as a company with all of our staff, vans and premises. This involves calculating all of our mileage from staff going to and from work, our electricians travelling to the projects, energy use in the office, water, rubbish collection, expenditure such as work apparel, machinery, printing, banking, postage etc.

We have calculated that we produced 71 tonnes of CO2 in 2020 and with this we decided it’s time we offset this by signing up to an organisation that we can invest in and at the same time do something for the environment.

Gone West is a tree planting company. They have planted over four million trees since they started in 2013 but that’s just the beginning of what they want to achieve. Their goal is to create environmental and social benefits around the world by generating ethical, green, jobs and help to establish, or restore, natural habitats.

Not only do the trees absorb CO2, they also help with reducing pollution and of course make our planet more attractive so it’s a win, win. We are a small company helping to tackle a large problem for today and tomorrow.

We would love to design your lighting project and if you would like to discuss this further please contact us via the website, or email design@moonlightdesign.co.uk or 020 8925 8639.