Masdar MIST Phase II Dhabi, UAE

Delmatic’s association with the Masdar Institute continues with the extension of the Delmatic Dali Zero Power system into Phase 2 of the ground-breaking project.

Phase 2 continues the sustainability vision of the campus’ existing buildings and provides another 45,000 sq.m of space across seven new buildings:  three laboratory blocks, three residential blocks, and an iconic activities building that includes a swimming pool, gym, and multipurpose hall for conferences and concerts. The Delmatic Dali system extends throughout the seven campus buildings including faculty and study areas, laboratories, offices, multi-purpose areas, as well as within the student accommodation itself.

Phase 2 further strengthens the academic, research and laboratory facilities of the university’s first phase, while also adding new resources to serve the campus and the wider city.  The new building complex (approximately 35 per cent larger than the current facility) sits alongside the existing campus and incorporates similar energy efficient design elements such as shaded streets, natural ventilation and heat reflecting facades that make the Masdar Institute facility one of the most technically and architecturally unique buildings in the world.

Sustainability is top of the agenda and the Delmatic system considers every watt of power, optimising energy efficiency to reduce the demands on sustainable energy and assist in the achievement of a carbon-free environment.

The Delmatic system provides networked control of lighting throughout the MI project, 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. 

The system optimises energy & operational efficiency and provides digital dimming within the majority of areas: Dali digital control enables lighting levels to be finely controlled through dimming 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.  To further optimise energy efficiency, temperature bands may be related to occupancy with unoccupied areas operating under a wider (and higher) temperature band:

The system is fully dynamic and receives signals from the power generation system to initiate load-shedding routines and scenarios: these match demand for power with the finite renewable energy available and selectively dim lighting across the site to reduce power demand.

The complete system is managed and monitored through Delmatic’s Lightscape graphical software providing comprehensive reporting functions as well as real-time virtual wiring reconfiguration.