New to lighting controls or want to brush up on fundamentals? Check out this webinar based on the Lighting Controls Association’s “Introduction to Lighting Controls,” the most popular course in the organization’s Education Express program.

The DALI Alliance has extended the DALI-2 certification program to include firmware updates via the DALI interface in devices including control gear, application controllers and input devices such as sensors. Firmware updates are specified in Part 105 of the IEC 62386 standard.

ASHRAE Standard 228 sets requirements for evaluating whether a building or group of buildings meets a definition of “zero net energy” or a definition of “zero net carbon” during building operation.

Based on a new Lighting Controls Association Education Express course, this article takes a deep dive into the lighting control requirements in the 2021 version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).

“Today, a fresh lighting design is really a lighting and controls design,” writes Acuity’s Steve Roe in this guest post. “Fortunately, leading manufacturers created a tool for lighting specifiers to do it all based on a simple formula: put the controls within the luminaire (light fixture).”

Who’s responsible for the lighting controls on a project? Who’s qualified? Who’s certified? In this extraordinary conversation at The Lighting Controls Podcast sponsored by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, hosts Webster and Ron talk to Darren Lapsley about communications between teams, education, the future of lighting controls, and much more.

The California Energy Alliance collaborated with the California Lighting Technology Center, RMS Energy Consulting LLC, and Southern California Edison to establish a working group of industry stakeholders to develop recommendations that simplify and clarify the nonresidential and residential lighting and lighting controls language contained in the 2022 Title 24, Part 6 Energy Code.

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $90 million in competitive awards to help states, cities, tribes, and partnering organizations implement updated energy codes for buildings.

The 2016 Paris Agreement called for its nearly 200 signatories to join in limiting global warming to an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This would require carbon emissions to be reduced by about half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. To reach this goal, the rate of retrofits in the Global North will need to triple from barely 1 percent to at least 3 percent of stock each year, according to Retrofitting Buildings to be Future-Fit, a November 2022 report by commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

The Lighting Controls Association now offers EE203: Lighting Controls and Energy Codes: 2021 IECC as a new course in its popular Education Express program.

Check out these excellent publications covering lighting controls by the Illuminating Engineering Society.

The United States is currently enjoying a dramatic surge in construction in manufacturing infrastructure. This suggests fresh demand for lighting and controls and the expertise to properly apply them to industrial spaces.

In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast co-produced by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, Mitch Hefter, Sr. Systems Engineer – Design & Development for Signify provides a lesson in standards like DALI and DMX along with a refresher on acronyms like ESTA and USITT.

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP recently had the opportunity to interview Stephen Zhou, Executive Vice President, McWong International, about how lighting controls are becoming simpler. Transcript follows.

On July 20, 2023, at 1PM ET, the U.S. Department of Energy will present a webinar on how to evaluate non-energy impacts of lighting controls.

The DesignLights Consortium has released a request for proposals for a consultant to create process maps for commercial lighting project life-cycles.

Growing demand for plug-in electric vehicles is likely to coincide with the significant adoption of EV charging stations in commercial buildings. If true, the economics of lighting upgrades may change, putting all energy efficiency options on the table, including those previously limited by payback thresholds.

This guest post by the DALI Alliance discusses sustainability, future-proofing, and the opportunities offered by smart, data-rich lighting systems. It also looks at the role of established global standards such as the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI®).

Toggled®, a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair focused on intelligent building management solutions, recently released survey results revealing that while many businesses are embracing smart building technology to increase energy efficiency and lower costs, they fall short of their goals due to an inability to master the data.

BetterBricks recently sat down for an interview with industry veteran James R. Benya, PE, FIES, FIALD, Principal Illuminating Engineer and Lighting Designer. In this insightful conversation, Benya shares tips and experiences specifying luminaire-level lighting controls, including pros and cons.

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP recently had the opportunity to interview Zach Schroeck, Director, Product Management, Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. for an article about “things every electrical distributor should know about lighting controls.”

BetterBricks, a commercial-building initiative of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has developed a video course on selling Luminaire Level Lighting Controls (LLLC) for retrofits.

The TALQ Consortium, which developed the Smart City Protocol, a global OpenAPI interface standard for smart city device networks, has published version 2.5.0 of the protocol.

By Steve Mesh This article on emergency lighting and controls was very much a collaborative effort. Many experts in the field—including Rick Miller, Craig DiLouie, and several manufacturers—provided extremely valuable input in reviewing and fact-checking the content. Egress and emergency lighting are critical elements of building design. During periods of occupancy, a clear, unobstructed path [...]

BetterBricks, a commercial-building initiative of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has developed a video course on finding Luminaire Level Lighting Controls (LLLC) solutions for lighting projects.

The DALI Alliance will present two seminars at LightFair 2023, a major trade show and conference for architectural and commercial lighting, which takes place in New York on May 23-25.

In this episode of The Lighting Controls Podcast co-produced by the Lighting Controls Association and NAILD, lighting controls and integration designer Ben Sullivan of CM Kling + Associates describes taking ownership of the design and implementation of controls, including: identifying the right devices, coordinating mounting locations, designing integration points, following up with occupants, and avoiding the finger-pointing game.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), the Building Technologies Office (BTO) recently announced DOE’s intent to make $1 billion in funding available to states and local governments for improved building codes that reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency through the IRA Funded Technical Assistance for the Adoption of Building Energy Codes.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) recently published ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Efficiency Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. For lighting, the new version adjusts power allowances, adjusts the definition of alterations, adds horticultural lighting, and updates several control requirements.

The Lighting Controls Association (LCA), a council of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, has released a new and updated version of EE107B: Lighting Controls and Commercial Lighting Rebates as a new course in its popular Education Express program.

Southern California Edison has announced a series of free webinars to help you take control of your lighting system or project.

In 2023, commercial lighting rebates remain a strong driver for adoption of energy-efficient lighting and controls in existing buildings. Notable trends include continuing stability in LED and control rebates, imminent jeopardy for some LED replacement lamp rebates, and growth for networked lighting control and horticultural rebates. A coinciding trend with implications for lighting upgrades is introduction of substantial rebates for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

Industry journalist Craig DiLouie recently had the opportunity to interview Thomas Leonard, Vice President, Commercial Controls, and Jeff Beyert, Vice President, Channel Sales & Service, of Leviton for an article about lighting control fundamentals to be published in the July 2023 issue of tED Magazine, the official publication of the NAED. The main question is: What does is the minimum every electrical distributor needs to know to begin to understand the lighting controls category?

The DLC recently published a summary of research conducted by Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc. (SERA), which identified non-energy benefits (NEBs) of networked lighting controls and developed a methodology for quantifying them.

nLight, a brand of Acuity Brands, recently published an applications guide for California’s Title 24, Part 6 (2022) energy code.

A major contributor to the economy is construction, which overall exhibited very strong growth in 2022. Despite a strong finish to the year, however, nonresidential construction spending is expected to moderate in 2023 and slow significantly in 2024, 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 moderate to grow a healthy 5.8% in 2023 but then slow to less than 1% in 2024.

“Maybe you are on a rushed project with barely enough time to finalize the drawings. Perhaps you’re being onboarded years after the project began. Maybe you just have a client who won’t respond to your requests for more information. No matter the reason, a project without an Owner Project Requirements (OPR) can present one of the most common and difficult challenges modern designers face today.”

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has published a short guide to plug load control and why it should be a common feature of commercial building energy codes.

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP recently had the opportunity to interview Paul Drosihn, General Manager, DALI Alliance. The topic: the recently introduced D4i global standard.