The Energy Commission has approved the California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program (CALCTP) and the National Lighting Contractors Association of America (NLCAA) as Lighting Acceptance Test Technician Certification Providers. This action gives CALCTP and NLCAA authorization to train and certify qualified individuals and employers beyond the interim period established by the 2013 Energy Standards. Individuals [...]

Effective July 1, 2014, the California Energy Commission adopted changes to the California building Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Parts 1 and 6) that require lighting controls and devices to be certified as properly installed and operational, prior to issuance of occupancy permits. All acceptance test technicians must be employed by an acceptance test employer that [...]

Daintree Networks® recently announced that is has collaborated with Peerless Research Group (PRG) on behalf of Modern Materials Handling and surveyed hundreds of warehouse professionals to better understand how enterprises are embracing and adopting the Internet of Things (IoT). The results showed that while IoT adoption is clearly still in its early stages, over 10 [...]

In 2014, the International Code Council published the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), a model residential and commercial building energy code. ICC states: “This code shall regulate the design and construction of buildings for the use and conservation of energy over the life of each building.” The IECC is not a code in itself [...]

Given current adoption of commercial building energy codes, conventional wisdom indicates that LED lighting is frequently specified with automatic lighting controls. However, there is little public data available concerning market penetration of LED lighting, how often it is specified as controllable and with lighting controls, owner preferences, and how satisfied specifiers and installers are with [...]

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) recently updated LSD 64-2014 Lighting Controls Terminology. This white paper, which was originally published in 2012, was updated to clarify terminology related to daylight responsive controls. NEMA LSD 64 defines terminology related to controls for lighting systems for non-residential and residential applications. The goal of LSD 64 is for [...]

As reported earlier this week on this blog, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) revised its October 2013 report, Dimming LEDs with Phase-Cut Dimmers: The Specifier’s Process for Maximizing Success. The new report features recommendation of a National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) lighting standard, NEMA SSL 7A-2013 Phase Cut Dimming for Solid State Lighting: Basic [...]

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 You may recall that last year, DOE’s GATEWAY program released a report entitled Dimming LEDs with Phase-Cut Dimmers: The Specifier’s Process for Maximizing Success, which was created in response to issues raised [...]

Update: On September 26, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) named the ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2013 energy standard as the new national energy reference standard, superseding the 2010 version in effect until then. Within two years, all states in the United States must put into effect a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as [...]

Outdoor lighting controls is undergoing a mini-revolution that offers new design and selling opportunities while challenging electrical professionals to stay on top of technological change. Traditionally, outdoor lighting control was relatively simple. A typical scheme featured a controller providing automatic ON/OFF based on time of day (using an astronomical time switch) or daylight (photosensor). The [...]

With efficacy and service life steadily increasing and costs declining by about 18 percent each year (Memoori, 2014), the LED revolution continues to develop at a rapid pace. LED’s inherent compatibility with digital control, aided by other trends, is setting the stage for the next LED revolution: smart lighting control. Many LED products are sold [...]

Lutron’s Dr. Pekka Hakkarainen recently wrote an article for LEDs MAGAZINE that makes the case that further LED adoption depends on advanced lighting controls. Check it out here.

Guest post by Brent Protzman, PhD, CEM, LEED GA, LC Brent Protzman is the Manager of Energy Information & Analytics at Lutron Electronics. Today, smart building technology is changing the way we think about lighting control and building integration. Manufacturers can increasingly deliver components that maximize energy-efficiency and integrate with other building systems to provide [...]

Light is comprised of wavelengths that the human eye interprets as colors. For an object to be perceived a certain color, that color must be present both in the light striking an object and the object reflecting the light towards the observer’s eye. Because of this, the choice of lamp for white-light general lighting can [...]

The Illuminating Engineering Society, in partnership with the Lighting Controls Association, has published LEM-7, Lighting Controls for Energy Management, a detailed guide to energy-saving lighting controls. The publication was written by Craig DiLouie, LC in support of the IES Energy Management Committee. The 48-page 8.5×11 guide, which is available for $35 (IES members) and $50 [...]

ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, identifies the minimum acceptable commissioning process for buildings and systems as described in ASHRAE’s Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process. Standard 202 is ASHRAE’s first standard focused on the commissioning process. The commissioning process as detailed in Standard 202 applies to all construction projects and systems and [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a new report, Dimming LEDs with Phase-Cut Dimmers: The Specifier’s Process for Maximizing Success. The report was created in response to issues raised about dimming by energy efficiency organizations and specifiers, and is based on experience from CALiPER testing and GATEWAY demonstrations. While progress has been made [...]

On October 18, 2013, all states were required by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to put in place a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as the 2010 version of the ASHRAE/IES 90.1 energy standard. Eight states are in compliance as of October 2013. States are expected to adopt 90.1-2010 in whole [...]

California has announced the 2013 version of its Title 24 energy code, which regulates energy-efficient design of buildings. The changes take effect in 2014 and are mandatory. The California Lighting Technology Center has published a guide to the major changes. Download it here.

A survey of two groups of professionals describing themselves as electrical contractors and energy consultants, conducted by the Lighting Controls Association from its lightingCONTROL newsletter database, suggests automatic lighting controls are becoming more popular in lighting retrofits. Respondents reported lighting controls were considered in over 50 percent and installed in over 30 percent of their [...]

The Illuminating Engineering Society’s TM-23-11 publication serves as a technical resource for lighting specifiers integrating control into their projects, providing detailed information about lighting control protocols. Get it here.

Navigant Research recently published a blog post about how the advent of LED lighting and lower-cost control technology is changing the lighting controls industry, causing three types of companies to compete for dominance. The article begins: “With the rise of LED lighting and inexpensive controls technologies, the market for networked lighting controls is expected to [...]

In a recent study, the Energy Center of Wisconsin monitored several daylighting systems in Minnesota and Wisconsin and analyzed the results of commissioning those systems. The researchers concluded: “Energy modeling, with its assumption of ideal control, appears to have the potential of being an accurate predictive tool for highly effective (>75%) control systems. However, the [...]

In September 2012, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published, Responsive Lighting Solutions for the General Services Administration (GSA). The report provides insight into the viability of highly responsive lighting control systems. It reports the results of installing advanced lighting controls in five Federal buildings. The existing lighting in these buildings was upgraded. A number of [...]

The Lighting Controls Association has published NEMA LSD-64-2012, Lighting Controls Terminology, as a supporting document to its Education Express online education system. The glossary is now available as a direct download in Education Express.

Demand for electricity in the United States has gone up in all but four years since 1949. The Department of Energy predicts growth in capacity of 0.6% per year through the year 2040. Many states and utilities have long considered energy efficiency a resource for satisfying growing demand. According to a study by the American [...]

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published NEMA LSD 64 Lighting Controls Terminology. NEMA LSD 64 defines terminology related to controls for lighting systems for non-residential and residential applications. The goal of LSD 64 is for NEMA definitions to ultimately be used as the definitive reference for codes, standards, and legislation. This will eliminate [...]

Despite a national recovery from the recession in 2009, construction activity in the United States continued to spiral downward in following years. Total construction spending declined to under $800 billion in 2011 from its peak of more than $1 trillion in 2008. In 2012, the market turned a corner and achieved a level of growth [...]

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the Energy-Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction (CBTD) to encourage owner investment in energy-efficient building systems. The CBTD establishes a special tax deduction rewarding investment in energy-efficient interior lighting, HVAC/hot water systems and building envelope, subject to a cap of up to $1.80/sq.ft. It’s an accelerated tax deduction, meaning [...]

President Obama recently signed into law a handful of energy efficiency provisions endorsed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). The American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (HR 6582) is the legislative vehicle for provisions promoting advanced metering in the federal government; a greater focus at the Department of Energy on deployment of existing manufacturing [...]

In an ideal world, clients state clear project requirements. The design team unites around a concept. The design documents clearly express the design intent. The contractor installs and starts the system without errors. And users benefit from quality lighting and control. In reality, any number of things can go wrong. The client may have unclear [...]

The Lighting Controls Association has announced the results of a recent survey of regular site users. The purpose of the survey, which was distributed to 15,000 subscribers of the LCA newsletter lightingCONTROL, was to determine satisfaction with the LCA website as well as the popularity of potential features. Respondents totaled 241, or 1.6%. The first [...]

Lighting quality is a critical consideration in effective lighting design, and often should take priority over energy savings and the economies of cost. But what is lighting quality? It goes beyond energy and cost and light levels to include brightness, light distribution, color, aesthetics, daylight, ease of use for controls, and other issues. While many [...]

Lighting accounts for about a third of electrical energy consumption in commercial buildings. As advanced energy-saving lighting controls still have a minority penetration in the existing building stock, building owners have a major opportunity to reduce energy costs with lighting control. Adoption of advanced lighting controls faces the usual hurdles affecting all energy-efficient lighting, including [...]

Utility and regional energy efficiency organization rebates and incentives have been a major driver in demand for energy-efficient lighting and controls since the early 1990s. Today, more than $6 billion in commercial lighting rebates and other incentives are offered by utilities and energy efficiency organizations covering some 80% of the United States. Currently, rebates and [...]

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published NEMA WD 7 Occupancy Motion Sensors Standard. Previously published as a guide and not a standard, WD 7 promotes uniformity for the definition and measurement of characteristics relevant to the use and application of occupancy motion sensors. This standard covers the definition and measurement of field of [...]

The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is a model residential and commercial building energy code produced by the International Code Council. First published in 1998, the IECC was updated in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009 and, earlier this year, 2012. The IECC is actually not a code, but instead a template for legal jurisdictions to use [...]

Although the national economic recovery is now two and a half years old, construction spending has continued to contract. A multitude of factors prevented a recovery for this beleaguered industry in 2011. Lenders that have been extremely reticent to finance construction projects, budget shortfalls at all levels of government, the ripple effect of overbuilding, depletion [...]

In July 2011, the Department of Energy recognized the ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2007 standard as the new national energy standard, superseding the 2004 version. In a bold move, on October 19, 2011, DOE recognized the 2010 version of 90.1 as the new national energy standard. By October 18, 2013, all states in the United States must put [...]