You’ve heard of smart buildings and building management systems, but you might not have heard specifically of advanced lighting controls, or about how new technologies are making it possible to automate lighting and create more energy efficient spaces.
That is exactly what many companies are doing in commercial buildings, and as an electrical contractor in South Florida, we are excited to see how these commercial lighting advances can benefit our commercial and residential electrical customers.
How Advanced Lighting Controls Work
Lighting controls can be a simple as sensors and switches, or a much more complex system linking many different light fixtures and switches. In their simplest form, they may use day/night or photosensitive switches to manage lighting in a smaller commercial or residential building, but single fixtures or a series of many may also be routed though network bridges to digital management systems and integrated with other building management systems to allow for remote control.
That advanced technology offers so many exciting benefits, including exponential improvements in control, timing, and programming, as well as reporting and even remote control.
Essentially, as buildings have got smarter, so has the technology available to manage them, and today, the level of control over lighting and other systems can be as complex or simple as a building owner chooses. These controls are far superior on a granular level, and offer management possibilities that are as different to legacy system as, well, day and night!
What Are the Benefits of Advanced Lighting Controls?
Older, legacy, analog-based lighting controls were not much more flexible than the dimmer switches your parents or grandparents had in their 1970’s home. They were clunky and cumbersome, and they offered a limited range of settings and control.
Today, with the range of digital lighting controls to choose from, we can offer customers an almost infinite number of settings and a layered control system that allows for complex parameter setup.
That, in turn, can lead to greater energy efficiency in buildings, improved security and increased comfort for building occupants. Since these smart lighting systems also minimize operation time for lighting installations, they also reduce long-term maintenance costs for the buildings they are installed in.
Going Smart
For our commercial clients, going digital with lighting controls makes a lot of sense. The good news is that it does not have to mean a complete replacement of all of your current lighting systems. Many advanced lighting systems can be retrofitted to existing systems with minimal changes in wiring and equipment.
Customers who do choose to upgrade both their aging lighting equipment and the management system that runs them can take advantage of existing energy savings by utilizing advanced lighting equipment based on LED and other technologies to reap the maximum efficiency benefits.
Whether you choose to upgrade your lighting and your management system, or whether you retrofit your existing system now with a view to upgrading in the future, it is certainly an exciting time for lighting, and there are sure to be major leaps in management and control to come. An experienced electrical contractor in South Florida can provide all the advice and assistance you need.
Recent Comments