Matt Ochs, senior director of commercial business for Lutron Electronics, recently contributed an article to BUILDINGS Magazine talking about how lighting controls can support the return to the office, either fully occupied or in a hybrid office-home office model.

In 2020, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) published ANSI/IES LP-6-20, Lighting Control Systems: Properties, Selection, and Specification. Drawing on the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express offering as a primary source, this 111-page Lighting Practice and American National Standard provides an excellent foundation for designing with lighting control systems.

In designing and specifying a lighting control system, part of the work involves configuring control zones to meet code requirements. This is an incredibly important step for two reasons…

Most new construction projects have various forms of documentation, but construction documentation often falls into one of two categories: Drawings or Specifications.

Lighting control design continues to evolve toward smaller control zones for flexibility, energy savings, and responsiveness. This is the topic of the most recent controls column that Charles Knuffke, Systems Vice President and Evangelist for Wattstopper and Chair of the Lighting Controls Association, contributed to LD+A Magazine.

Jeremy Day, Application Engineering Director for LumenPulse, wrote an interesting article laying out a simple process for designing a lighting control system.

This article, based on the Lighting Controls Association’s new Education Express course EE202: Automatic Plug Load Control, provides an overview of approaches used to automatically control plug loads in commercial buildings.

The Lighting Controls Association (LCA) now offers EE305: Protocols as a new course in its popular Education Express program.

Lighting Controls Designers work with many different types of documents, some of which may be created by the designer, some by the manufacturer, and others by third parties. This paper will quickly describe each document, why it is used, and who is often responsible for creating the document. There are four design phases in which these documents are utilized…

Whether it be an office building with a smart Building Management System (BMS), a dynamic color changing bridge, or a lobby with an interactive multimedia experience, architectural lighting controls systems need integration. A lighting controls systems integrator provides a unique service for lighting controls by identifying and overseeing the devices necessary for the unique needs of the project’s design. Some projects don’t use a dedicated lighting controls integrator and some projects experience challenges without the aid of a dedicated integrator. For project success, a lighting controls designer should know when to onboard and specify an integrator.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recently published guides on how to design buildings that achieve net-zero energy consumption without compromising quality.
Building upon previous guides targeting deep energy savings, the first two new guides were developed in partnership with the American Institute of Architects, Illuminating Engineering Society, and U.S. Green Building Council, and target K-12 and small to medium office buildings.

Robert J. Garra Jr., PE of CannonDesign recently contributed an article to CONSULTING-SPECIFYING ENGINEER, in which he makes a case for the importance of emphasizing controls in a quality lighting design, while laying out principles for application.

“The reduction of overhead lighting to providing minimal background illumination, augmented by individualized lighting systems incorporating user control, delivers optimal use of facilities resources and energy, while creating a more agreeable, and arguably healthier work environment.”

Steve Mesh writes, “According to Wikipedia, a communication protocol is a ‘system of rules that allow two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity.’ That’s a mouthful! What does that mean in terms of networked lighting control (NLC) systems?”

In this guest post, Paul Rudalavage, Synergy Electrical Sales summarizes five key areas to understand and explore when purchasing a lighting control system.

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE DECISIONS recently ran an article contributed by the Lighting Controls Association on how to apply lighting controls to existing buildings.

This guest article by Steve Mesh compares the pros and cons of room- versus building-based control systems.

Commercial building energy codes contain detailed mandatory lighting control requirements related to buildings such as K-12 schools. The high-performance school design movement extends these requirements by demanding additional flexibility to support the contemporary learning experience in today’s classroom. This application guide by the Lighting Controls Association describes various control strategies that can be applied to [...]

The Illuminating Engineering Society, in partnership with the Lighting Controls Association, has published LEM-7, Lighting Controls for Energy Management, a detailed guide to energy-saving lighting controls. The publication was written by Craig DiLouie, LC in support of the IES Energy Management Committee. The 48-page 8.5×11 guide, which is available for $35 (IES members) and $50 [...]

A survey of two groups of professionals describing themselves as electrical contractors and energy consultants, conducted by the Lighting Controls Association from its lightingCONTROL newsletter database, suggests automatic lighting controls are becoming more popular in lighting retrofits. Respondents reported lighting controls were considered in over 50 percent and installed in over 30 percent of their [...]

Lighting quality is a critical consideration in effective lighting design, and often should take priority over energy savings and the economies of cost. But what is lighting quality? It goes beyond energy and cost and light levels to include brightness, light distribution, color, aesthetics, daylight, ease of use for controls, and other issues. While many [...]

As demand for lighting controls continues to grow, advanced solutions are becoming increasingly specified while also becoming increasingly sophisticated. This increasing sophistication translates to greater owner benefit but can also pose greater risk of design and installation mistakes. In a perfect world, designers create clear and detailed lighting control requirements that are easily installed by [...]