So it seems that people say that the darkness during the day in winter effects how sleepy we feel. Not the case here at Davis, the electrical team (Paul and Vas) have made it their mission to ensure that there is adequate lighting in and around the station.
The powerhouse was the first challenge accepted to make the diesel mechanics somewhat blinded by the light. We upgraded the switch room and the engine room lighting to energy efficient LED technology. Not only do these new lights minimise our power usage but also limit station waste i.e. disposing of fluorescent tubes and shipping them back to Australia to get disposed of correctly and minimise our environmental impact. It also minimises the need for any lamp replacements due to their long life capabilities. As part of this we also upgraded our emergency/exit lights, to safely indicate exits in the event of a power failure and to make it easier and safer to reestablish power if we do have a failure.
Next challenge, upgrade Sleeping Medical Quarters (SMQ) cold porch lights. As part of this we replaced the existing lights with LED fluorescent equivalents. However we also installed emergency lighting in the cold porch to ensure we can get our fire gear together in the event of a power failure.
Just when the station thought it wasn’t possible to make any other areas brighter, we decided to upgrade the stairwell emergency lighting in our SMQ also.
All these lighting upgrades have future proofed our emergency evacuation areas in the event of a fire/blackout and ensures that all egresses are lit up for safe travel.
This 24 hours of darkness in winter was no match for the Davis electrical team.
The station learnt a valuable lesson from all of this — don’t tell an electrician that it’s too dark in here!
Vas Georgiou