Intelligent Lighting Control Panels: Why It Can Save Your Business Money
Scheduling a building's lighting to automatically power off at the end of a workday has repeatedly demonstrated a 5-10 percent kWh savings and a 0-5 percent peak kWh savings. Even more impressive is scheduling selected lighting areas to automatically shut off during peak demand periods - as this has been recognized to generate 5-15 percent kWh savings and 5-15 percent peak kWh savings. What does this mean in simple English: well, according to the New Business Institute, intelligent lighting control panels can reduce lighting energy consumption by 50% in existing buildings and by at least 35% in new construction.
Therefore, intelligent lighting control panels are essential to businesses who wish to generate energy savings - and what better time than in a down economy when every dollar matters. The cost savings can produce a short payback and a high rate of return for an investment in a new lighting control panel. In a new construction, the rate of return is often higher because only the premium, not the total installed cost, will be recouped before positive cash flow is realized.
Lighting Control Panels and Energy Standards
Lighting control panels have increasingly garnered interest within the electrical construction industry not only because of their obvious energy-saving capabilities but because of new energy codes that have been enacted in recent years. The ASHRAE/IES 90.1 Standard, which was recognized by the Department of Energy as the minimum national energy standard, requires automatic shut-off in buildings larger than 5,000 sq. ft. except for buildings where it is critical that the lighting be continuous. There a few basic ways to meet this standard with lighting control panels being a prudent economic choice.
Lighting Control Panels and Worker Satisfaction
Studies have shown that personal lighting control can increase worker satisfaction - which can be a major contributor to productivity, which also providing energy savings. According to the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), energy costs run about $2/sq.ft. in a typical commercial building while worker salaries and benefits can run to $130/sq.ft. or more. While reducing energy costs by a large percentage can be profitable, increasing working productivity by even a small percentage can prove to be much more profitable to your business' bottom line.
Other Advantages of Intelligent Lighting Control Panels
Intelligent control panels are ideally suited to applications where the divisibility of control stops at the branch circuit level - such as retail stores, warehouses, factories, transportation terminals, and parking garages. The advantages include scheduled energy savings, code compliance, and individual breaker control, which ultimately enable branch circuits to be individually controlled or grouped together and easy rescheduling and changing of control zones via a Web browser.
Intelligent Lighting Control Panels 101
Lighting control panels - also called switching or dimming panels, controllers, sequences and automation panels - are typically installed in the electrical room near the electrical panel, although in some cases the electrical panel and the lighting control can be integrated into a single unit using controllable breakers.
Intelligent lighting control panels include an integrated time-clock that enables programmable scheduling for automatic shut-off of selected loads, and can provide monitoring and alarm features. In addition, it can automatically switch lighting and other loads on and off from a time schedule, or in response to an occupancy sensor or a building automation system. The panel can also monitor the status of a branch circuit and various inputs and can subsequently alert the facility manager of a tripped breaker, a faulty sensor, or when the burn time of a lamp fixture exceeds a preset value.