US Power Letter

The Value of Wireless Lighting Control

In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for up to 40% of total energy cost. Reducing this energy consumption has become a major goal for building owners, governments, utilities and many other stakeholders. It’s no secret that replacing existing lights with more energy-efficient lighting sources (such as LED) is one of the ways to reduce this massive pool of energy use—but efficiency is only the start.

An even greater level of energy reduction comes from turning off lights when they are not needed, optimizing light levels to suit worker needs, and reducing overall demand for lighting energy. Improving system-wide control over lighting is the best way to ensure that lighting energy is automatically reduced as much as possible. Lighting Control solutions, based on a variety of technologies, have been proven to reduce lighting energy consumption in commercial and industrial buildings by up to 70%. These solutions have been limited in the past by cost, complexity and applicability, but new wireless technologies are providing ways to expand the capabilities of Lighting Control and offer them to a wider set of customers.

This paper looks at the benefits that Lighting Control can provide, and how those benefits can be further enhanced by removing the wires.