Electrification Impacts On Lighting, Part 6: Advanced Lighting Controls

At LightFair, I was part of a panel presenting the impacts of electrification on the lighting industry. This article is Part 6 of the series.

In Part 3 of this series, the drivers of deeper energy efficiency retrofits were discussed, including:

• Rapid rises in electric utility rates that will likely continue for some time.
• Avoiding added infrastructure costs to bring greater electrical service into buildings (2x – 3x electricity demand is predicted).
• Avoiding state and municipal fines for failing to meet new energy/greenhouse gas benchmarking laws.
• Tightening energy codes
• Reducing costs to implement climate resiliency measures. Lower energy use reduces onsite energy generation required and onsite energy storage required.

Combined, the above factors will significantly increase the ROI for deep energy efficiency retrofits. This will drive LED lighting retrofits as well as advanced lighting controls adoption, such as networked lighting controls (NLC). The above DLC chart shows that more than a quarter of the remaining non-residential lighting savings will require NLC.

NLC has had very slow adoption rates to date because of competing with LED for ROI, aka diminishing returns. The five drivers listed above for deeper energy efficiency retrofits due to electrification will add several new ROIs for NLC. In addition, energy savings will also increase significantly as electricity rates continue to rise rapidly across the country.

Image: DLC

Part 1, about rapidly changing building and energy codes, can be found here.

Part 2, about new electrification products sold in the lighting industry, such as EV chargers and e-bikes, can be found here.

Part 3, about the drivers of deeper energy efficiency retrofits, can be found here.

Part 4, about material & metal shortages, can be found here.

Part 5, about DC fixtures, can be found here.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and Senior Business Development Consultant at Capacity Consulting, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has been co-chair of the ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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