Smart lighting now plays a huge role in many industries that have strict lighting requirements. Switches, time periods and brightness can all be set by smart lighting system, meaning indoor lighting can be adjusted based on anything from the weather to what the staff find easiest to work under.
This also goes for the outside areas at any organisation to ensure that the lighting is only switched on when daylight hours are over.
When it comes to commercial lighting, in most cases, the focus is more on energy saving and social benefits than strict guidelines and safety concerns. For example, in commercial buildings the lighting is often in operation for around 12 hours a day, resulting in massive power consumption. This is where smart lighting is ideal and can be used to save huge amounts of energy. The large number of luminaires needed also leads to applications that require the lighting system to be linked with other smart devices. LEDs connected with visible light communication technology for example can achieve precise positioning which can help highlight product promotions in stores. Currently, many of those with commercial lighting systems are undergoing large-scale upgrades to smart systems to keep up with the latest technology.
However, there are four key points to consider before converting a site to smart lighting. These are:
Controls don’t make a lighting system ‘smart’
Controls have always been a part of lighting and include everything from simple switches to dimmers and sensors. In order for a system to be smart, it needs to connect to other devices installed with lighting hardware in a way that allows them to “talk” to one another. Manual controls can still be used but the aim is programmability so that the system can manage all the components and operate smoothly.
Smart lighting technology is the future
To get beyond illumination and get devices connecting to one another, components, interfaces, and communications technology should be synced. Interoperability goes a long way towards simplifying development, installation, and management of smart lighting systems. Proprietary systems, which are often seen as the easiest solution, are all well and good but when trying to install multiple sub-systems the communication between them becomes difficult. Another problem is how well proprietary solutions will survive in the future with the ever changing advancements in technology, and how much the necessary support will cost. To combat these concerns many are investing in smart lighting technology.
Customers want measureable benefits before committing to smart lighting
In order for an organisation to consider smart lighting, the decision makers need to see the predicted substantial energy savings to get them over the mind-set that the installation would be too much work, too complicated and too expensive to pursue.
The return on investment will depend on multiple factors
Energy cost reduction is the main reason for investing in lighting controls and balancing the cost of more intelligent systems. There are a number of grants, rebates and incentives available that will help reduce payback time, but it is important to research how much functionality you would need to use and what having a future-proof system would look like by assessing each project differently. A strong understanding of current requirements versus what they may be in the future allows decision makers to shape the project in order to get maximum ROI.