In March 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) determined that the 2022 version of ASHRAE/ANSI/IES 90.1, Energy Efficiency Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, saves energy over the 2019 version. As such, this standard became recognized as the new national energy reference standard.

The TALQ Consortium recently released a new version 2.6.0 of its Smart City Protocol, a global interface standard for smart city device networks.

While prescriptive lighting rebates have significantly promoted adoption of energy-efficient lighting and controls, the custom rebate option offers a potentially highly lucrative path, particularly in projects with advanced lighting controls.

In the ever-evolving landscape of lighting control systems, the key to their successful maintenance lies not just in technological interoperability but also in continuous education. In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast presented by the Lighting Controls Association and supported by NAILD, Chesapeake Lighting’s Kelly Gallagher emphasizes this crucial point, stressing that without adequate knowledge, even the most advanced systems can falter.

The DALI Alliance recently unveiled much-anticipated certification details for its wireless specification: DALI+ over Thread.

“Being in the lighting and controls industry for the past 27 years, I’ve internalized to a high degree that there are few constants,” writes mwConnect’s Blane Goettle in this guest post. “One is change, and the other, that the more things change, the greater the need for connection.”

Enacted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on November 15, 2021, The Build America Buy America Act, or BABA, established a domestic content procurement preference for all infrastructure projects receiving Federal financial assistance after May 14, 2022.

The DesignLights Consortium recently released a draft update to its Networked Lighting Controls Technical Requirements (NLC5.1), continuing efforts to increase market adoption of energy saving and smart building-enabling NLC technology.

In the latest episode of the Lighting Controls Podcast co-sponsored by NAILD and the Lighting Controls Association, Jason Jeunnette talks about his work at the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) as a Technical Manager.

In September 2023, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) released Bluetooth® NLC, a series of specifications that define roles and responsibilities for common lighting control devices. Bluetooth NLC builds on wireless standards Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and Bluetooth Mesh to provide full-stack standardization. By ensuring true multivendor interoperability across the control system, the Bluetooth SIG believes this will enable mass adoption of wireless networked lighting controls in commercial buildings, including small and medium-sized as well as large buildings.

In this episode of the Lighting Controls Podcast co-sponsored by NAILD and the Lighting Controls Association, the DALI Alliance’s Carol Jones draws attention to the inevitability of change emphasizing the need for lighting controls interoperability within the construction sector.

The Lighting Controls Association, a council of NEMA, has updated EE107B: Lighting Controls and Commercial Lighting Rebates, a course in the organization’s Education Express program.

In this episode of the Lighting Controls Podcast co-sponsored by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, the Lighting Controls Association’s education director Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP discusses the state of the category, industry trends, and the value of education delivered by the organization’s free Education Express online system.

In 2024, commercial lighting rebates remain a strong incentive for adoption of energy-efficient lighting and controls in existing buildings. Notable trends in prescriptive rebates include continuing widespread availability, softening demand for rebate dollars, more bonus programs, generally increasing average rebate amounts, and strengthening of networked lighting control rebates.

In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast presented by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD–with this episode sponsored by mwConnect (formerly McWong International)–Shoshanna Segal, principal of Hartranft Lighting Design, talks about how a clearly written intent is the way to achieve better lighting control.

In this four-part series, Charles Knuffke, Systems VP & Evangelist, Wattstopper/Legrand, North and Central America and past chair of the Lighting Controls Association provides a crash Lighting Controls 101 class for lighting practitioners.

In this four-part series, Charles Knuffke, Systems VP & Evangelist, Wattstopper/Legrand, North and Central America and past chair of the Lighting Controls Association provides a crash Lighting Controls 101 class for lighting practitioners.

In this four-part series, Charles Knuffke, Systems VP & Evangelist, Wattstopper/Legrand, North and Central America and past chair of the Lighting Controls Association provides a crash Lighting Controls 101 class for lighting practitioners.

In this four-part series, Charles Knuffke, Systems VP & Evangelist, Wattstopper/Legrand, North and Central America and past chair of the Lighting Controls Association provides a crash Lighting Controls 101 class for lighting practitioners.

To improve understanding and possibly resolve the shortcomings of 0-10V products, the Department of Energy recently published the results of a study conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The study characterized 23 LED streetlights that claimed dimmability via a 0-10V interface, quantified the performance variation found in market-available LED drivers, and explored the potential impact of the most recent 0-10V voluntary standard, ANSI C137.1-2022.

In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast co-produced by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, lighting designer and E1.68 DMX512 Compliance task group chair Javid Butler, LC, CEM, CMVP provides an update on what’s new with the DMX512 standard.

Interested in learning more about The Commissioning Process as it applies to lighting and control systems? Check out this webinar based on a popular course in the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express program.

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) recently announced the formation of a Horticultural Lighting Controls Technical Working Group that will advise and assist the DLC in efforts aimed at accelerating the horticultural lighting industry’s transition to optimized energy and production practices through networked lighting solutions.

“In the lighting controls industry, are we at an inflection point where vendors are starting to embrace the idea of cross-vendor interoperability?” asks Steve Mesh.

A new report from Guidehouse Insights assesses the competitive landscape for leading manufacturers of nonresidential lighting controls.

Construction spending is expected to grow in 2024 but at a significantly slower pace, according to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Construction Consensus Forecast Panel made up of leading economic forecasters. The Panel forecasted that nonresidential construction spending will slow to 4% growth in 2024 and further slow to 1% growth in 2025.

In this guest post by Steve Mesh, he argues that while networked lighting control systems are getting far easier to set up and operate, they are still inherently complex, and that’s a good thing.

A new video from the DALI Alliance explains D4i technology, which enables luminaire-level lighting control with enhanced data and diagnostics.

Interested in learning more about luminaire-level lighting controls (LLLC)? Check out this webinar based on the Lighting Controls Association’s LLLC course, one of the most popular courses in the organization’s Education Express program.

In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast co-produced by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, Daniel Salinas, President/Lighting Systems Designer for Salinas Lighting Consult, Inc., describes the rewards and challenges of renovation and retrofit projects.

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP recently had the opportunity to interview Damon Barnes, Director of Technical Marketing, Bluetooth SIG, Inc. for an article about Bluetooth NLC for an upcoming issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR. Transcript follows.

Dan Hollenkamp, COO of Toggled, recently made five very interesting predictions regarding the development of the smart buildings market in 2024.

Interested in learning more about what networked lighting controls can do for lighting? Check out this webinar based on the Lighting Controls Association’s “A Year in the Life of an NLC,” a popular course in the organization’s Education Express program.

Craig DiLouie recently enjoyed interviewing Stephen Zhou, Executive Vice President, McWong International on the topic of Bluetooth NLC for upcoming articles in ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, tED Magazine, and the Lighting Controls Association. Transcript follows.

Interested in learning more about daylight-responsive lighting controls? Check out this webinar based on the Lighting Controls Association’s “Daylight-Responsive Lighting Controls,” one of the most popular courses in the organization’s Education Express program.

As first-generation LED lighting systems begin to be replaced, a significant opportunity to maximize energy savings by incorporating networked lighting controls is emerging, particularly when HVAC integration is included, according to a new report by the DesignLights Consortium.

Says White: “The controls people out there – they are worth their weight in gold, times ten!”

Everywhere, we see signs the LED revolution has won. An argument can be made, however, that this mature lighting technology is simply entering its next phase of market opportunity. Call it LED Revolution 2.0.

The TALQ Consortium, which developed the Smart City Protocol, a global interface standard for smart city applications, recently added more security to its certification procedures.