Harnessing nature's safety solution; Polar Enviro

Why Melbourne?

Polar Enviro was formed in 2019, and made up of three existing companies that were about 20 years old. Queen Street in the City of Melbourne was the logical place for Polar Enviro’s headquarters and showroom as Melbourne is one of the leading cities when it comes to sustainability. Queen Street also made sense as a location that was easy to facilitate visits to the showroom to demonstrate products. 

Challenge

Emergency exit signs are mandatory in city buildings. Alarmingly, conventional emergency lighting technology is both unreliable and unsustainable, while also consuming a significant amount of energy. Although mains powered, they rely on batteries to keep them lit when there is a power failure. Currently, disposal of old tech exit signs involves throwing the whole sign away when the battery fails. Nearly all, and worryingly about 95% of their lithium batteries, go to landfill or get stockpiled.  

To provide an Australian perspective of how much waste, both landfill and energy, this generates consider this. There are over 100 million old-technology exits signs with backup lithium batteries in Australia alone, and countless billions around the world. They are a significant and now unnecessary waste of resources. The savings to the environment would be significant if each old-technology exit sign was replaced with a photoluminescent one. 

After reading this article, you simply will not be able to help but notice how MANY exit signs there are. Each consuming power 24/7, with a backup battery, destined to fail and be replaced. 

Solution

Innovative hybrid photoluminescent technology is the environmentally sustainable disruptor to replace costly, short-lived, environmentally harmful emergency and safety lighting. It is starting to happen around the world, and an established Melbourne family business Polar Enviro and its Smarterlite subsidiary are at the forefront of driving change. 

Its photoluminescent technology significantly decreases carbon emissions and cuts energy costs for businesses, governments and communities all the while improving safety without compromising the climate. 

Photoluminescent lighting is not new but is now gaining greater attention and traction as cost and climate conscious facilities managers and Owners Corporations look to improve their operations. Photoluminescent technology first received attention in 2004 when New York City introduced photoluminescent exit and egress signs after the World Trade Centre attacks, with the signs improving safety by being more readily visible in emergency situations. Their popularity was further enhanced by later reforms, including a 2019 New York City law to reduce emissions from large buildings by 40 per cent by 2030 and by 80 per cent by 2050. 

In 2011, Australia introduced photoluminescent exit signs as a compliant alternative to exit signs that use electric batteries, as part of an update to the National Construction Code, albeit with much higher standards than those that apply elsewhere. It was subsequently adopted by every State and Territory. 

Thanks to innovative and sustainable climate technology like Smarterlite, Australian buildings are now catching up with global counterparts. Adoption has been accelerated by designs like Smarterlite’s hybrid models that have an integrated energy efficient light source that is significantly more energy efficient than old-tech exit signs. 

Each Smarterlite sign incorporates a photoluminescent ‘wafer’ – a renewable and recyclable light source that lasts about 30 years – plus other parts that can be repaired, replaced or recycled every 16 to 20 years. 

The Smarterlite 24 meter Environmental Exit Signs is National Construction Code compliant and, compared to a conventional sign that uses an electric-battery, can save users about 46 kilograms of carbon a year, or 1,380 kilograms over its 30-year lifetime. 

Replacing 80% of Victoria’s old exit signs with Smarterlite’s Hybrid Photoluminescent Exit Signs would contribute about 15% of Victoria’s projected carbon reduction targets in the building and industry electrification and energy efficiency sector. 

Result

Polar Enviro is educating building owners about the hidden costs in their existing exit signs, and the significant benefits of changing. For example, buildings using their Environmental Exit Signs can achieve annual savings of more than $100 per sign, and the production of eWaste can be reduced or even eliminated. 

Example clients include Bunnings, Telstra and Owners Corporations for offices and apartments across the City of Melbourne, plus education, medical, shopping centres and warehouse facilities more broadly. 

Beyond their Smarterlite Environmental Exit Signs, Polar Enviro has had its Smarterlite photoluminescent linemarking and road signs installed on roads in the Otways and around Kinglake and Metung as part of a Department of Transport & Planning project.  Photoluminescent paint provides back-of-house illumination for workplace safety in a national arts & culture facility in Sydney. It’s also used in an interactive placemaking art mural in Abbotsford. Polar Enviro’s OmniGrip Direct brand makes bicycle and bus lane surfaces from Australian recycled-glass, which has been used extensively across the City of Melbourne by its contractor, Citywide.