Commercial Lighting Services
in Raleigh NC
Keeping Up with Commercial LED Trends
Over the past decade, LED options have developed rapidly, creating a growing application storehouse that manufacturers worldwide are tapping into. LEDs that at one time were only capable of producing light at one end of the spectrum, now provide an array of color temperatures. Control systems have improved dramatically, allowing building owners the means to deploy much more feature-rich systems.
Here are some LED trends to keep in mind as you develop an upgrade strategy. They can help you better formulate a timetable:
The Technology is Rapidly Evolving:
Over the last decade, progress in light-emitting diode performance has been nothing less than phenomenal. LEDs today are performing at 50% wall plug efficiency, meaning that 50% of the applied power is emitted as light. Laboratory results are even higher, in the high 60s. LED-based lighting is replacing incandescent, fluorescent, and High Intensity Discharge (HID) fixtures in almost all applications. As prices drop further this trend will only accelerate.
Systems are More Complete:
LEDs didn’t start out as entire systems. The original idea, in the commercial space, was to simply make them replacements for fluorescent lamps, providing a low maintenance alternative that would maintain uniformity of color for significantly longer periods. More recently, the concept of blended systems has begun to take hold. LEDs are being integrated into systems that have sophisticated software controllers, facilitating remote control via smartphone applications and the cloud.
The outdoor areas on corporate campuses or company property are one application that’s starting to receive a lot of manufacturer focus. Creating a safe, well lit, parking lot with energy-saving lighting is very appealing. When you consider that replacing legacy lamps and ballasts in these fixtures almost always requires expensive lift equipment, and the LED replacement will typically operate unattended for ten years or more, the case becomes even more compelling.
As a partner with years of industry experience, The John Riley Group can help you choose the right combination of LED fixtures, resulting in an unprecedented outdoor lighting experience..
Sensors Will Usher in the Next Chapter:
Although LED fixtures started out as simply on/off devices, the ability to control the lighting using sensor data will bring about a sea change. Using occupancy and level light data, the lights will dim when the space is unoccupied, or when the amount of natural light increases. And temperature data collected by the sensors will control the HVAC systems. These capabilities will be one element of the transition underway that will ultimately result in every system in the building running on the same network. Sophisticated software packages allow various lighting and HVAC policies to be set throughout the facility, resulting in unprecedented energy savings and occupant comfort.
