Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. introduces the next generation of the Quantum™ total light management system for improved comfort and productivity and the capability to reduce a building’s lighting electricity usage by 60 percent or more.
The expanded capabilities of Quantum total light management now include integration with Lutron’s Grafik Eye QS scene and zone controls; Lutron’s new Hyperion™ solar-adaptive shading; and architectural load dimming of all common light sources, including halogen, LED, low-voltage and incandescent.
Lutron’s Quantum total light management optimizes the use of electric light and daylight, in commercial and educational buildings–preventing wasted lighting energy. Quantum automatically dims or switches all electric lighting and controls daylight using automated window shades. Quantum also manages, monitors, and reports on all the lighting usage in a building or campus for optimal energy performance and productivity, while minimizing maintenance and operating costs.
Quantum total light management is making front-page news inside The New York Times Company where it is achieving a 70 percent savings in lighting electricity use in the company’s new headquarters — as compared to the ambitious energy-efficiency benchmark the 52-story building originally was designed to meet.
“We designed our building to use 1.28 Watts per square foot of lighting power. With Quantum, it’s using only 0.38–that’s 70% less,” says Glenn Hughes, Director of Construction for The New York Times Company during the design, installation and commissioning of The New York Times Building. “The energy usage savings is stunning.”
It is estimated that the 70 percent savings in lighting energy usage — in office space of 600,000 sq. ft.– will generate an annual savings of about $315,000 for the Times Company. The environment benefits too: about 1,250 metric tons of CO2 emissions will be prevented yearly.
Office buildings and other commercial structures are consuming huge amounts of electricity in cities and towns all over–and lighting is almost always the number one reason,” says Eric Lind, Director-Commercial Marketing for Lutron. “With energy costs continually going up, Quantum cuts the electric bill substantially and, in the process, helps the environment.”
The need to curb commercial building electricity usage for lighting is acute. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, lighting alone accounts for about 40 percent of the typical office building’s electricity consumption, far more than any other source, including HVAC or office equipment.
Lutron's EcoSystem™ lighting controls and Quantum™ total light management system were installed in The New York Times Building and have delivered dramatic energy savings. "We designed our building to use 1.28 Watts per square foot of lighting power. With Quantum, it's using only 0.38---that's 70% less," said Glenn Hughes, Director of Construction for The New York Times Company during the design, installation and commissioning of The New York Times Building. Photo by Nic Lehoux.
Quantum total light management utilizes a wide number of strategies to bring energy savings to a building: daylight harvesting; light level tuning; occupancy or vacancy sensing; load shedding; architectural load dimming; fluorescent dimming; high-end trim; switching; and scheduling. And Quantum increases comfort and productivity with strategies such as personal light control, scene and zone control, and controllable window shades.
Quantum offers a new shade control strategy — Hyperion solar-adaptive shading (available 1st Quarter 2009) – that automatically adjusts window shades based on the sun’s position to effectively manage the daylight in a building, reduce glare, and save energy. This solution provides a simple set-up, based on a building’s geographic location and user-specified sunlight penetration. Manual override of shade position is always available when desired.
Quantum also offers unprecedented flexibility for building occupants. Quantum enables workspaces to adapt to changing requirements. Lighting and shading zones can be re-configured without rewiring, making a space responsive to high churn rates. In addition, the Quantum system is scalable from small, stand-alone spaces, to whole floors, to the whole building or campus. Quantum is appropriate for a wide variety of commercial structures, whether new construction or retrofit projects.
For more information about Quantum total light management, click here: www.lutron.com/quantum. For more information about The New York Times Building project (including a detailed case study), please visit: www.lutron.com/nyt.
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