Stacks+Joules recently focused on the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express program, awarding certificates to seniors attending Madison Park Vocation School. Recognized were Cameron L., Janice W., Brian H., David M. and Miguel C.

Lutron’s Pekka Hakkarainen contributed an article to the February 2018 issue of ELECTROINDUSTRY, the NEMA magazine, in which he argues that specifiers should look beyond the lowest common denominator when it comes to lighting controls (energy code compliance) and instead look to realize their full value potential.

The National Lighting Bureau convened a panel of industry experts to talk about outdoor lighting being used to implement Internet of Things/Smart Cities solutions, part of the organization’s 2017 Annual Lighting Forum. Click to watch this informative discussion.

The U.S economy grew by 2.5% in 2017, outpacing 2016, and is expected to produce similar growth in 2018. A major contributor to the economy is construction, and the outlook for construction spending in 2018 overall is positive, particularly nonresidential. The AIA’s semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast, a survey of the nation’s leading construction forecasters, is projecting 4% growth in nonresidential construction spending in 2018 and 3.9% in 2019.

The designers were asked to design the illumination for a 200-ft. pedestrian bridge; gateway to a 2-mile-square suburban village. But without any funds, the designers recognized that an extraordinary concept was needed to inspire funding. Through research, they discovered the original bridge once carried a historic high-speed train. They formed an idea to combine art, history and technology and create the allusion, or ghost, of this passing train.

This educational video, produced by the Lighting Controls Association at the 2017 LIGHTFAIR event, introduces the building industry to smart lighting controllers by Synapse Wireless.

The Lighting Controls Association is proud to announce that Audacy Wireless Lighting Control has joined the association.

The Illuminating Engineering Society is still accepting submissions for the 2018 Illumination Awards, including the prestigious Lighting Control Innovation Award sponsored by the Lighting Controls Association. The deadline is February 12.

A new application for voice-control personal assistants is control of home systems such as lighting, shades, thermostats, A/V, security, and other smart devices. A typical solution includes a virtual assistant device (phone or speaker), Wi-Fi connection, downloadable smart device app, and a compatible lighting or home automation system. This article by Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP describes typical solutions, how they work, and their benefits.

This guest article by Steve Mesh compares the pros and cons of room- versus building-based control systems.

While installing controls in new construction or full-scale remodeling is reasonably straightforward, retrofitting controls into an existing building or space can be somewhat problematic, especially when cutting into walls and ceilings is undesirable. To this end, the first step in assessing an appropriate approach is to establish what the goals of a retrofit are. Pure energy savings gains can be realized with simple ON-OFF controls additions, while inclusion of dimming functionality requires greater investment. Embracing more complex targets, such as inclusion of human factors driven lighting strategies are even more involved.

As the lighting market shifts to SSL technology, Current, powered by GE is one of many companies that are helping to reinforce U.S. manufacturing and R&D leadership. This will not only help bring significant energy savings through more-efficient lighting products, but will benefit our economy by adding jobs at multiple levels of the supply chain.

The Lighting Controls Association’s Education Director Craig DiLouie recently interviewed Terry Arbouw, Director of Business Development & Product Innovation at Hubbell Control Solutions, and Félix Omar Pérez, Product Manager – Energy Efficiency at Hubbell Wiring Systems. The topic: automatic plug load control.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) agreed to enter a formal liaison to advance the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). A liaison relationship between IIC and NEMA fosters common understanding of new technologies for the digital economy.

Controlling plug loads is a natural fit for the lighting controls industry, as the same devices and strategies are used for automatic shutoff of plug loads such as task lighting as for general lighting. This feature article by LCA Education Director Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP looks at energy code requirements, compliance options, and control types.

The IES Illumination Awards program recognizes individuals for professionalism, ingenuity, and originality in lighting design. The Lighting Controls Association is proud to sponsor the Lighting Control Innovation Award, which recognizes excellence in design projects featuring innovative and effective use of lighting controls. Submissions open January 2, 2018.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and its counterpart industry associations in Canada and Mexico issued joint recommendations to their respective governments on the modernization and improvement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The Lighting Controls Association has announced that OSRAM’s Gary Meshberg, LEED AP, LC, IES has been re-elected Chair for the 2018-2019 term. Legrand’s Charles Knuffke has been elected Co-Chair. Maria Northup of NEMA serves as executive director, secretary and treasurer, and Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP, IES, principal of ZING Communications, Inc., serves as education director.

The general concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is expansive and virtually without limit. The basis of the technology is that devices, appliances, building systems, computer networks, vehicles and personal smart devices become connected together in such a way as to exchange and process information or facilitate integrative control functionality. The impact this will have on industries and individuals is potentially profound.

In this LCA column, Kevin Willmorth looks at the Internet of Things and the role lighting is likely to play in it.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) lighting is part of a brave new world. The ascendance of LED fixtures has given rise to some new methods of providing and controlling light in our environments. Since LEDs are low-voltage devices that use direct current, they are a good match with a system that provides low-voltage DC power over Ethernet cables. Guess what? That’s a computer network! For several years, lighting (and computer) companies have been developing the idea of powering LED fixtures from what is essentially a computer network switch. As you might imagine, this gives rise to a host of questions about a variety of issues.

In this LCA column, Steve Mesh takes an in-depth look at power over Ethernet (PoE) systems.

The DesignLights Consortium’s (DLC) new report, Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control (NLC) Systems, estimates average lighting energy savings of 47% resulting from installation of networked lighting control systems. The report indicates high potential energy savings for networked controls, supports layered control strategies as a means to maximize savings, and may be used to justify new and larger utility rebates. Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP breaks it down in this month’s featured article.

In this LCA column, Kevin Willmorth breaks down opportunities and challenges when controlling TLED lamps.

The Lighting Controls Association welcomes EuControls Corporation as a new member.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, EuControls is dedicated to the design and manufacture of LED lighting control systems and devices based on field applications and growing demand for LED lighting. As a company dedicated to offering advanced technology products, the company’s solutions focus on intelligent and wireless lighting controls.

This Posting by Jim Brodrick, DOE’s SSL Program Manager, profiles Acuity Brands as an American manufacturer of LED products. Click to check it out.

Most commercial building energy codes require automatic lighting shutoff. This common-sense strategy also adds value to lighting upgrades in existing buildings. Remote switching is one method, with an option being switches residing in a metal cabinet-type enclosure called a panel. This panel can serve as the backbone for a complete energy code-compliant control system that responds to a wide range of control inputs for indoor and outdoor lighting control. It is typically sold as a new complete unit, though panelboard retrofit assemblies are available.

This article describes common panel-based lighting control systems.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) recently released its September Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI). For a second consecutive month, the index reflected an improvement in the current conditions measures with an overall increase of three points, from 65.6 to 68.8. The future conditions index increased from 62.5 to 75 with a few survey participants [...]

This educational video, produced by the Lighting Controls Association at the 2017 LIGHTFAIR event, introduces the building industry to emergency assistance services enabled by Echelon’s networked lighting control system. Click here to learn more.

Republication of Postings from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Program Headquartered in Greenville, SC, where more than 500 employees are based, Hubbell Lighting is a major manufacturer of LED and conventional luminaires and control solutions, and is one of the three largest lighting manufacturers based in the U.S. The company features a [...]

Republication of Postings from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Program by Jim Brodrick, SSL Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy A new GATEWAY report on a trial installation of tunable-white LED lighting systems in three Texas classrooms provides valuable insights into the use of this technology in a real-world setting. While reducing [...]

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) offers a free publication on how to evaluate electrical equipment that has been exposed to water through flooding, hurricanes, and other events involving large quantities of water.

LD+A recently published an article by the California Lighting Technology Center’s Cory Jackson, discussing why commercial lighting remains sparse in demand response programs and what can be done. She writes: After nearly two decades of support and research focused on automated demand response (ADR), lighting remains underutilized as a demand response resource. Beginning in 2007 [...]

In “Connectivity is The Key,” LD+A lighting control columnists Gary Meshberg, LC (chair, Lighting Controls Association) and Craig DiLouie, LC (education director) describe the revolution in lighting controls occurring in the area of connectivity and what this means for the future of lighting. The authors write: While basic connected lighting capabilities have been available for [...]

In May 2016, the DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) released V.1.0 of its Networked Lighting Control Systems Specification, which formed the basis of a new Qualified Lighting Products List (QPL). The intent was to provide utilities and energy efficiency programs a resource to qualify networked lighting control systems so they could be covered in commercial sector lighting [...]

LightShow West has announced a new education series, Control Systems Summit: A Lighting Revolution, will take place Oct. 12 as part of the two-day trade show and conference at Kentia Hall in the Los Angeles Convention Center Oct. 11-12. Available for $195, the summit will include four hours of education, which carry a number of [...]

Guest Post by Kevin Willmorth Flicker presents itself in several forms, each with its own cause. For lighting decision makers, avoiding flicker requires understanding what causes it and what can be done to avoid it. For a good understanding of what flicker is and how we see it, NEMA’s position paper TLAs-2015 Temporal Light Artifacts [...]

Guest post by Steve Mesh, LC A relatively recent trend in the industry is to embed “luminaire-integrated” (embedded) controls into each fixture. This can be done in different ways, with different types of components, and with different types of control systems. The most basic version of “luminaire-integrated” controls consists of on-board sensors that tell the [...]

Republication of Postings from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Program by Jim Brodrick, SSL Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy It’s no secret that the explosion of connectivity triggered by the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also impacting the lighting industry — to such an extent as to constitute [...]

The most recent Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) collected new information about lighting control technologies and strategies in the United States in 2012. Compared with other investments in energy efficiency—such as upgrading heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems or replacing insulation—lighting controls are often “relatively easy, accessible, and affordable changes,” according to the Department of [...]

Occupancy and vacancy sensors are devices that detect when a space is unoccupied and accordingly automatically turn OFF (or dim) the lights, thereby saving energy. The device may also turn the lights ON automatically upon detecting the presence of people, providing convenience and a potential security aid. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, occupancy-based [...]