Lighting

Page 7: Lighting Controls: A Lightbulb Is No Longer Just a Vacuum Tube of Glass and Steel

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October 2017

By Tom Quinn

A lighting control system can do a lot more than save energy for a building owner/operator or maintenance and engineering manager. A lighting control system now has the ability to provide a cloud-based sensor network that can be used to not only manage lighting, but can also dynamically manage HVAC systems in a granular fashion.

Beyond optimizing energy in a building, this cloud-based sensor network can start to improve the way commercial real estate assets are managed via indoor location services. These location services provide way finding and asset tracking, as well as provide a view into how people move through a space. Ultimately, the lighting infrastructure has the potential to support the edge computing paradigm, which is being driven by the massive connectivity of devices associated with the trend towards the Internet of Things (IoT).

Lighting infrastructure can be used as the foundation to derive more building value with less cost than previously envisioned – and without adding additional hardware to ceilings and walls. The confluence of semiconductors, power and density of deployment coming together in a lightbulb opens a world of possibilities never previously envisioned.

A lightbulb is no longer just a vacuum tube of glass and steel; PC boards inside a lightbulb unlock the power of semiconductors. Lights are ubiquitous and are already powered. They don’t need to be charged or battery-powered like many standalone sensors and controls available today. Lamps are everywhere and they will serve as the foundation that we’ve only begun to contemplate.

Tom Quinn is in charge of Worldwide Field Operations for Lunera Inc.

Advances in LED lighting and control technology can provide new solutions and significant benefits to institutional and commercial facilities. These developments lead to more choices regarding lighting retrofits, as described in Lighting Controls: Advances in LED Technology, which first appeared in the October 2017 issue of Facility Maintenance Decisions.