Here’s How Wireless Lighting Control Will Save Businesses, Campuses and Cities Money

Wireless Lighting Controls

JP Bedell

At this point, I’m not breaking any new ground when I tell you that lighting control systems, especially automatic ones like occupancy sensors and daylight sensors, can radically reduce energy consumption. Traditionally deploying lighting control beyond the standard NEMA photocell in exterior roadway and area lighting applications was prohibitively expensive with very little added benefit. All of that is changing with the advent of wireless area lighting controls and dimmable LED.

I think it’s really important to highlight where the marriage is between LED and lighting control. Now that LED is bright enough and durable enough to meet the needs of most exterior lighting applications, we have, for the first time, a dimmable exterior light source.

Why is this so important? High pressure sodium and metal halide sources are only switchable and require a warm up time before coming to full brightness. This meant that binary on/off control with a photocell was basically the best we could do in terms of energy savings. Enter a dimmable light source like LED and the game radically changes.

To give you an example, imagine a baseball stadium on game night. Traditionally on a game night 100% of your area and parking luminaires would need to be on. But with adaptive lighting controls, we’ll see how a flexible control system could greatly reduce the amount of unnecessary illumination used and thusly save a ton of energy and operational expense.

Take a look at my very crude sketch. What I’ve imagined here is taking the parking lot that was once just one big area and breaking it up into zones. The zones allow facilities to create rules for how the lights will behave.

What I’m picturing is a weekday game night scenario where the stadium will be about 40% occupied. Since some folks took mass transit, imagine the parking lot is 30% occupied for the game.

Instead of lighting 100% of the parking area 100% of the time, now we can adapt the lighting to what is necessary on this particular game day. Here’s just one scenario:
•    all lighting is activated by the lack of natural light as measured by the photocell
•    lighting in zones 1 and 2 (the closest to the stadium) will remain at full brightness throughout the game
•    zones 4 and 6 will dim to 50% of their total output unless triggered to full by the occupancy sensor
•    zones 3, 5, and 7 will dim to 25% of their total output unless triggered by the occupancy sensors
•    the roadway that leads to the stadium will remain at 100% and is triggered based on the teams schedule

This kind of combination of scheduling, daylight harvesting and occupancy sensing can yield anywhere from a 30% to 60% savings in energy.
It’s important to see that these examples do not include LED fixtures, meaning that even more energy savings are on the table. Echelon is hosting a webinar specifically geared toward universities, educational campuses and parking lots. Engineers, architects and facilities managers interested in saving energy should check out Echelon’s June 30 webinar (for a link, visit the LDS Calendar.


JP Bedell is a Lighting Guy from New York City. Sales rep and blogger for SDA Lighting.Stan Deutsch Associates, founded in 1962, is dedicated to offering specification-grade lighting products to the local design community. SDA offers quality lighting solutions to commercial, retail, hospitality, institutional, healthcare and educational markets; http://www.sdalighting.com.

Related Articles


Changing Scene

  • LEDVANCE Expands Ontario Presence with New Specification Agent

    LEDVANCE Expands Ontario Presence with New Specification Agent

    LEDVANCE is pleased to announce the appointment of Sterling Architectural Products Ltd. (Sterling Lights) as their new specification agent in Ontario. This partnership strengthens LEDVANCE’s presence in the region and reinforces their commitment to serving the professional lighting design and specification community with innovative, reliable lighting solutions. With decades of experience and a service-driven mindset,… Read More…

  • May 29, 2025 - Eureka Wins Three 2025 Red Dot Awards for Product Design

    Eureka Wins Three 2025 Red Dot Awards for Product Design

    Eureka is pleased to announce that its Velia, Cirra, and Junction luminaires have each received a 2025 Red Dot Design Award for Product Design. It is the 11th consecutive year that Eureka products have been honored with this prestigious award, which is a testament to the company’s consistency and relentless drive to design exceptional luminaires.… Read More…


Design

  • LightForm: Estiluz – Versatile Solutions for Sophisticated Spaces

    LightForm: Estiluz – Versatile Solutions for Sophisticated Spaces

    For anyone seeking high-performance lighting that blends elegance with engineering, Estiluz offers an exceptional range of solutions. This Spanish brand, family-owned since 1969, creates lighting that balances form, function, and flexibility, making it ideal for both bold architectural statements and subtle design enhancements. At LightForm, they are proud to be the exclusive Canadian distributor of… Read More…

  • The Difference Between Accent, Ambient & Task Lighting: Ultimate Guide

    The Difference Between Accent, Ambient & Task Lighting: Ultimate Guide

    In interior design, lighting is not just about brightening the room. Sensitive lighting layout is the key in the whole aesthetic atmosphere. An outstanding lighting solution will not rely on one type of fixture. Rather, it is through the combination of different types of lighting. Accent, ambient, and task lighting are three basic types of… Read More…


New Products

  • STANPRO: WAY – LED Step Lights With or Without Motion Sensor & Photocell

    STANPRO: WAY – LED Step Lights With or Without Motion Sensor & Photocell

    The WAY step lights combine durability with a sleek and modern appearance. They are designed to create an inviting atmosphere by enhancing the aesthetics of a space and accentuating architectural features as well as key focal points. The WAY LED step lights are suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications, these luminaires can be integrated… Read More…

  • Cooper Lighting: HALO – RL Dual Zone Smart Wi-Fi Recessed LED Trims

    Cooper Lighting: HALO – RL Dual Zone Smart Wi-Fi Recessed LED Trims

    With HALO’s RL Dual Zone Smart Wi-Fi Recessed LED Trims you can effortlessly manage the downlight and outer ring independently, each offering full-color and tunable white options. Mix and match colors to create the perfect ambiance, whether you’re showcasing your team’s colors or setting the mood for a party. Illuminate your space like never before… Read More…