The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) and the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) recently announced a new agreement designed to enhance and promote development and adoption of smart building technology.
CABA is a global non-profit industry association dedicated to advancing home and intelligent building technologies that foster better utilization of building space, occupant comfort, and energy savings. The DLC is devoted to driving efficient lighting by defining quality, facilitating thought leadership and providing tools and resources to the lighting market. The DLC’s just-released Networked Lighting Control System Technical Requirements V4.0 policy addresses roadblocks to wider adoption of technology capable of serving as a smart building gateway while significantly boosting the energy efficiency of light emitting diode (LED) fixtures.
With the goal to “wherever possible, share information and work in a collaborative manner on connected home and intelligent building issues,” the scope of the DLC-CABA Reciprocal Agreement paves the way for mutually beneficial actions such as:
• establishing forums for timely and open exchange of information on current and planned activities; and
• establishing non-exclusive vehicles for engaging a broad array of stakeholders, including hardware and software manufacturers, service providers, the utility industry, regulatory organizations, technology companies, vendors, consumer and non-profit groups, and government entities.
Other ways the two parties may work together as a result of the agreement include collaborating in working groups; developing; reviewing and commenting on policy and technical materials; and commenting on each other’s research relevant to the lighting and home and building automation industries.
At the DLC’s 2019 Annual Stakeholder Meeting in April, conference attendees learned that the number of smart buildings is projected to grow by 30 to 34 percent by 2024, with networked lighting controls (NLC) playing an important role in that increase. During a meeting panel discussion, CABA President & CEO Zimmer noted that IoT device shipments in North America are increasing by about 11 percent annually, and lighting controls comprise one of the largest segments of that growth. Panelists concluded that better awareness and understanding is needed to increase adoption and expand the smart building-enabling benefits of NLCs. This new collaboration between CABA and the DLC is an important step toward that goal.
