Lifestyle
Philips LEDs installed in Costa Cruises’ ships meet new sustainability goals
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), the global leader in lighting, has completed the upgrade of 10 ships for Europe’s leading holiday cruise company, Costa Cruises. More than 300,000 Philips LED lights have been installed to enable a 60% reduction in the energy used to power each ship’s lighting.
Electricity aboard ships is exclusively powered by diesel motors, and this lighting renovation across 10 ships enables total annual savings of 30,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions. The switch to energy efficient LED technology is the latest step towards Costa Cruises’ goal to slash its CO2 emissions according to targets it set out in its Sustainability Report published in 2014.
Stefania Lallai, Costa Cruises Sustainability Director, commented: “This initiative between two companies engaged in providing solutions for the mitigation of the impact on the environment represents another step forward by Costa Cruises in the field of sustainability. The lighting project with Philips is an important initiative undertaken to lower the CO2 impact generated by our fleet and to reduce energy consumption on board.”
Philips’ MasterLED spots and CoreProLED tubes installed on the cruise ships emit excellent quality white light that does not irritate or tire the eyes. Moreover, the LED lighting is longer lasting (up to 40,000 hours) and provides a bright, warm and inviting atmosphere for passengers. Philips completed the relamping of three ships back in 2013, with the lighting of the remaining seven ships completely renovated by December 2014. Philips is also involved in the LED lighting renovation of Costa Cruises’ headquarters in Genoa, Italy.
“Travel by sea already has the lowest carbon footprint compared to other forms of transport in the wider tourism industry,’’ said Nicola Kimm, Head of Sustainability for Philips Lighting. ‘’Think of cruise ships as self-contained mini floating cities, powered by their own energy supply. Switching from 50 Watt bulbs to 7 Watt LED technology increases energy efficiency by more than halving each ship’s electricity consumption required for lighting.’’
The global cruise industry is expected to be worth nearly USD 37 billion (EUR 33 billion) in revenues by the end of 2014¹. Meanwhile, the number of passengers carried by the cruise industry has been growing year on year and is expected to exceed 24 million in 2018.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 105,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare.
About Costa Crociere
Costa Cruises is Europe’s no. 1 cruise company (www.costacruises.co.uk). For over 60 years its ships have plied the seas of the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream holidays with the utmost in terms of fun and relaxation. Its fleet, the largest in Europe, has a total of 14 ships in service and 1 new ship to be delivered in October 2014. Costa Cruises has been certified by RINA (Italian Shipping Register) with the BEST4, an integrated system of voluntary certification for social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2008), environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 2004), safety (OHSAS 18001, 2007) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2008). All the ships in the Costa fleet have been assigned RINA’s Green Star notation certifying that they are operated in compliance with the highest environmental protection standards.
