6 Lighting Control Strategies to Cut your Energy Costs

Increase Energy Savings for your Warehouse or Manufacturing Facility with these Lighting Control Strategies from Acuity Brands

It goes without saying that for any facility, you need appropriate lighting to provide a safe work environment and improve work performance. Lighting requires energy and energy costs money, but with the right lighting control strategy you can reduce your facility’s operating costs.

The following is from Acuity Brands’ Industrial Lighting Controls Strategy eGuide, posted with their permission. For the full guide you can visit Acuity Brands’ website to download the eGuide.

Lighting Control Systems & Strategies

Using sensors, scheduling and programing technologies, lighting controls help you maximize savings by minimizing your energy and maintenance costs on lighting. With lighting controls you can save upwards of 80% when you have control over how and when your lighting is in use.

From Acuity Brands’ eGuide, here is a summary of the controls strategies and applications. Evaluate which controls strategy best fits your facility.

Lighting Control Strategies

1. Occupancy Sensing – illuminate areas when they are in use or occupied.
   
   When zones are vacant, lights automatically dim or turn off until space is occupied again. Sensor types include: passive infrared (PIR, detecting body heat) and microphonics, which uses a microphone to hear sounds indicating occupancy. You can use one or a combination of the two for greater precision, providing light only where and when it’s needed. Best for Warehouse or Office areas. Energy Savings: 15-55%.
2. Daylight Harvesting – regulating lighting based on the ambient light (natural and artificial) in a space.
   
   A sunny day providing lots of natural light, lighting will dim or turn off, reducing your energy consumption appropriately. Best for Industrial Areas, Office, or Outdoors with natural light available. Energy Savings: 15-45%.
3. Auto Scheduling – set a time-specific schedule over lighting based on the time of day as it applies to shift schedules and business patterns.
   
   Predetermine when lighting should be on and when the facility will be vacant and not require lighting. Best for Manufacturing Areas with known regular labor shifts, or Outdoor areas. Energy Savings: 10-40%.
   More Lighting Control Strategies:
   
4. Task Tuning – Programming the output of individual or group lighting to the level that the space and task or area requires. Determine the amount of light output for a given space or function. Best for Manufacturing or Office areas. Energy Savings: 5-15%.
5. Load Shedding – dimming lighting for brief periods during times of peak electric demand, reducing energy usage. Temporarily reduces energy usage either based on a demand-response signal or manually. Energy Savings: 5-15%
6. Integrating Building Management Systems – Enable lighting control systems to integrate with building management system, such as HVAC. When a space is unoccupied, lighting and HVAC usage can be reduced. Energy Savings: 5-15%

More from Acuity Brands:

• Acuity Brands Website
• Acuity Brands Industrial Lighting Controls eGuide
• Acuity Brands Literature Library