In January, the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) published a new report about quantifying the non-energy benefits (NEB) of networked lighting controls (NLC). The most valued non-energy benefits varied by stakeholders, but included:
- extending the life of lighting equipment
- improved safety and security
- reduced maintenance
- improved light quality
The top three takeaways of the report are:
- For decision-makers that participated in utility energy efficiency programs: Including the net value of NEBs in cost-benefit analyses produced a return on investment (ROI) 2.3 times higher than when only considering energy savings.
- For building operations staff: Net energy savings from NEBs were valued at approximately 11% of a full-time maintenance staff member’s time to provide similar impacts.
- For building occupants: A net increase in self-reported productivity of almost 8% was estimated for each employee in workplaces where NLCs were operating.
The report is available for free download here.
Then there are the potential problems. Please read my column in the current Designing Lighting magazine entitled “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” It is about our increasingly complex lighting controls that rely heavily on digital communications, processors and software. Aside from a few responsible manufacturers who maintain historical records and provide updates, a lot of the stuff we buy today will not be compatible with communications systems, operating systems and software a decade from now. Not to mention the near total lack of interoperability among manufacturers. In fact the only constant is that 0-10 volt analog dimming signals are not yet gone in favor of a particular digital standard that is doomed to be not interoperable and will be obsolete and for hardware reasons not upgradable within a decade. Perhaps I am unaware of efforts beyond IES committee work, but I remain concerned, and the article shows why.