For the environment: Messe München switches completely to climate-friendly LED lighting

Major climate protection project launched: By the end of 2026, Messe München will successively replace all the conventional light sources and safety lighting in its 18 exhibition halls with energy-saving LED technology. In terms of both logistics and organization, it’s a complex undertaking that directly benefits one of Messe München’s central business goals: resource-efficient business practices, and protection of the environment and climate.

“By converting to LED lighting systems, the average annual electricity consumption for hall lighting will be reduced by almost 50 percent,” say the joint Messe München CEOs Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel. Specifically, that means that once all 18 halls have been equipped with LEDs, the total annual electricity savings will be around 1.5 million kilowatt hours (kWh). “This huge energy saving naturally also results in significant cost savings for Messe München – money that we can invest in other important sustainability projects,” as Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel reiterate. That amounts to almost 30,000 euros per hall per year. The retrofit in all 18 exhibition halls will cost around 8.5 million euros. “Our carbon handprint is therefore measurable, and hence all the positive effects of our climate protection actions,” as the o-CEOs emphasize.

Strong thanks to SME power

Cooperation with competent partners is hugely important for Messe München in such a venture, since converting the hall lighting to LED technology requires meticulous preparation and planning. After all, the installation can only be carried out when there’s no trade fair taking place in the halls. A challenging task, the first part of which was successfully completed in record time this summer: Within just four weeks, all the conventional light sources in four exhibition halls were replaced with new, energy-saving LED lighting systems, and new electrical distribution boards were installed. Messe München has 18 halls, with a combined area of 200,000 square meters.

Thomas Richter, who is responsible for the project at Messe München as head of the Electrical Engineering team in the Central Construction and Technology Division, is pleased together with his team: “At times, up to 40 electrical engineers from the company Kreutzpointner were working at the same time in order to make the best possible use of every free time slot in the trade fair calendar, no matter how small it was. Manpower and material planning ran to perfection from the initial concept and planning phase to the actual implementation. In times of supply chain bottlenecks and shortage of skilled workers, that’s anything but a given.”

When it comes to implementing complex climate protection measures, Messe München relies on the know-how of high-performance SMEs. In the LED project, it is supported by Kreutzpointner Holding GmbH and RIDI Leuchten GmbH: The family-run Kreutzpointner company group from Burghausen, Germany, which specializes in electrical engineering, has been active at the exhibition grounds in Riem since the Messe München was built in the mid-1990s. RIDI Leuchten GmbH, based in Jungingen, Baden-Württemberg, and represented in Bavaria by Doerner Industrievertretungen GmbH & Co. KG, based in Gräfelfing, is currently one of Europe’s leading high-end manufacturers of climate-friendly and design-oriented lighting solutions and LED lighting systems.

Climate neutral by 2030

Messe München has set itself extremely ambitious climate targets, and aims to become climate neutral by as early as 2030. In order to achieve its ambitious goals, Messe München is continuously initiating climate protection measures and projects – across all trades of its trade fair infrastructure.

“In terms of dimension, the technology of Messe München is comparable to that of a small town. That’s why we have to constantly optimize the supply of electricity, cooling and heat if we want to remain competitive in our core business and act sustainably at the same time,” say the two Messe München CEOs Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel. For example, the aim of a current simulation-based feasibility study is to determine the most effective and economically viable energy mix for operating the exhibition grounds in the future – ideally carbon neutral.

Messe München – a role model for sustainability

Messe München is already a role model for sustainability in many areas: from the trade fair’s own photovoltaic system on the roofs of the B wing to the purchase of green electricity and LED lighting. “Sustainability has increasingly become an economic success factor. We can only operate profitably and secure our company’s future in an intact environment,” say the Messe München CEOs Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel.

Photos free of charge: RIDI Leuchten GmbH