To support the rapid development of new technologies and changes in the energy business, Title 24 is updated every three years, enabling the California Energy Commission (CEC) to make substantial progress toward their increasingly aggressive energy reduction goals, such as California Carbon Zero, a pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

One particularly energy-intensive sector in California is commercial and industrial facilities, which account for 23% of the state’s electricity consumption. A stunning 38% of that energy is used to light these large spaces – many 24×7, regardless of occupancy or available sunlight. To address these substantial – and unnecessary – energy burdens, the latest incarnation of Title 24 will require the most aggressive lighting controls yet, including occupancy sensing and daylighting in more facilities than ever before.

And that is where intelligent LED lighting systems shine. Pun intended. For commercial and industrial customers, intelligent LED lighting systems are a successful tool for both meeting Title 24 efficiency requirements, while locking in maximum project incentives, and aligning lighting with a facility’s needs. In fact, with the next round of updates to the program, the functionality provided in intelligent LED systems – with integrated networking and controls – will be help facilities meet the increasingly stringent requirements.

California’s energy reduction machine has been hard at work, and other states are looking to it for guidance.  I’ve heard utility folks from Massachusetts, Ohio, and other states reference Title 24 when discussing their own efficiency programs – proud that they’re meeting the most rigorous energy requirements in the country. So, even if you don’t live or work in California, you should be prepared for Title 24, because you’ll likely encounter its ripple effects in relatively short order. And, regardless of where you run your business, intelligent lighting is always a smart decision – bringing new levels of efficiency, performance, control and flexibility to your facility.

The post California’s Title 24 – Leading the Way for Energy Efficiency appeared first on Digital Lumens.

Hazardous location environments require rugged, robust luminaire construction, coupled with excellent thermal management, and long life.  The choices to-date have included lower efficacy, high-wattage fluorescent and HID fixtures that have traditionally been left uncontrolled, driving high energy and maintenance costs. Plain LED options have been available for several years, though with high initial costs and without the controls necessary to meet oft-changing facility requirements. No solution has addressed these facilities’ needs with radical efficiency and compelling cost savings. Until now.

Incorporating Digital Lumens’ signature intelligence into highly efficient, IP65-rated LED luminaires – all with wireless mesh networking, integrated occupancy and daylight sensing –brings all the benefits of LED technology to hazardous location environments in the following classes: Class I Div2, Class II Div2 and Class III. Available in 13,000K, 18,000K and 26,000K versions, the Digital Lumens HLE family of Hazardous Location fixtures have 100,000+-hour expected lifetimes, flexible controls to meet ever-changing facility demands, and affordable up-front costs to deliver compelling energy savings and rapid project paybacks.

Energy reduction alone justifies the investment in long-life Intelligent LEDs. However, with no re-lamping and re-ballasting, maintenance savings further shorten project payback times. In hazardous location environments – from grain processing to petrochemical environments — the cost of re-lamping and re-ballasting can be significant, as fixtures are both tightly sealed and often inaccessible due to both environmental and scheduling constraints, adding to labor costs.

Needless to say, we strongly believe in the benefits of intelligent LED systems, and for facilities requiring hazardous location fixtures, the benefits are even greater: extreme efficiency that reduces a facility’s energy intensity and carbon footprint; control and flexibility to adapt lighting settings as facility needs change; and major maintenance savings in challenging environments. If your facility requires hazardous location fixtures, we hope you’ll check out the new product family to see if it fits your needs.

The post Intelligent Hazardous Location Fixtures: Maximum Efficiency & No Maintenance appeared first on Digital Lumens.

“I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.”

This efficiency target, derived from excellent work done by the Alliance to Save Energy, would require us to reduce energy demand from today’s levels by approximately 20% by the year 2030. A technology near and dear to my heart, solid-state lighting, will play a huge part in achieving these energy savings.

Today, lighting is responsible for 19% of U.S. electricity usage

One of my favorite analytical reports of 2012, the Department of Energy’s Lighting Market Characterization, attempts to quantify just how much electricity is used each year to illuminate our homes, offices, factories, and roads. The results are pretty amazing – 700 TWh, or roughly one-fifth of our total electrical load, goes toward generating photons.

[Source: Department of Energy]

Transitioning to SSL is projected to reduce this usage by 46% by 2030

Another exhaustively researched DoE report, the poetically titled “Energy Savings Potential of Solid-State Lighting in General Illumination Applications,” models everything from LED price/performance curves to technology diffusion in the residential market in order to estimate how much energy will be saved by the transition to solid-state illumination sources. Even without capturing the impact of next-generation intelligent lighting controls, the DoE analysis shows a path to an aggregate 46% reduction in lighting energy usage by the year 2030.

[Source: Department of Energy]

Intelligent Lighting Systems accelerate savings

Smart lights save a lot more energy than dumb lights. Our work at Digital Lumens creating the world’s most advanced Intelligent Lighting Systems gives us access to a ton of data on how digital dimming, daylight harvesting, task tuning, scheduling, and occupancy sensing, when combined into a integrated system, can boost efficiency and shorten retrofit paybacks. Without revealing any proprietary results, it’s safe to say that if all lights were smart by 2030 the aggregate electricity savings would be closer to 70% than the 46% presented in the DoE’s model.

One quarter of President Obama’s energy savings goal can be reached by widespread deployment of intelligent solid-state lighting

President Obama’s 20% reduction in overall energy usage corresponds to about 20 Quads of primary energy; lopping 500TWh from lighting electricity use would reduce primary energy by approximately 5 Quads. Leaving the Jevons Paradox aside for the moment, this would imply that about a quarter of the national energy savings target can be reached by simply switching to intelligent solid-state lighting systems. This is optimistic, of course, though well within the realm of realistic possibility given the trajectory of adoption we are seeing.

The post Smart Lighting and President Obama’s Energy Efficiency Goals appeared first on Digital Lumens.

Industrial customers undergoing retrofits or building greenfield sites do not avail themselves of wall-mounted dimmers in the same way the residential/commercial customer base might, rather relying on fixture-integrated dimming. In fact, installing LED lighting in an industrial facility renders topics like compatibility, centralized power sources and miscellaneous other concerns moot. Digital Lumens, the leading manufacturer of Intelligent LED systems for industrial lighting applications, takes an integrated approach to design and development of fixtures. This comprehensive approach includes an integrated power supply, LED driver with full dimmability (0%-100%), occupancy sensor, daylight harvesting capability, and wireless networking and control – to name a few distinctive features.

While residential/commercial customers may differ from industrials, when it comes to some concerns, we agree with several of the DOE’s recommendations.  First, always test what you plan on purchasing. Digital Lumens and our Authorized Partners frequently hang demonstration units as proof of our ability to save industrial customers significant amounts of energy and money. Second, dimming is a large component of the energy saving strategy. And, third, wireless controls further the energy savings, adding accessibility to both lighting changes and facility use data. Because, when control over the specific dimming level is as easy as opening a web-browser and changing the settings throughout the facility via computer, customers tailor their lighting levels to specific needs of the installation and personnel, and as a cost-savings strategy.

So, what do our customers already know that’s worth sharing with facility managers considering LED lighting?

• Fully dimmable fixtures are critical to overall energy savings
• Intelligent controls bolster energy savings by making it  easy to modify and adjust settings
• Robust scheduling provides the ability to have different settings by shift or day for superior alignment
• Integrated designs maximize the cost/benefit of the lighting solution
• Rigorously tested, industry approved fixtures will ensure the longevity of the installation

When considering industrial lighting options, intelligent LED lighting offers the best total cost of ownership, saves the most energy and offers the broadest feature set – all at only an incremental expense over “plain” LED lights.

The post Dimming-nation appeared first on Digital Lumens.

The 10,000-lumen Xpress LED fixture features the hallmarks of the Digital Lumens product family: rugged, high-quality design, fixture flexibility, high efficiency, and extends the core design principles of rotatable light bars and our world-class occupancy sensor. It gives facility managers who want occupancy-driven LED lighting a simple, cost-effective option that will save 75-90% over traditional HID and HIF lighting.

So, what’s the right Digital Lumens solution for your facility?

Xpress is an excellent option if you want a world-class high bay fixture with integrated occupancy sensing and highly efficient operation. Manually configured sensor timeouts and dimming settings are established when the fixtures are installed and provide excellent light quality as needed. Rather than a simple LED fixture that requires an aftermarket sensor, Xpress provides seamless integration and greater energy savings – combined with the Digital Lumens quality and five-year warranty.

The Intelligent LED Lighting System, which has set the standard for industrial lighting power, efficiency and flexibility, continues to be the best option on the market for facilities that want maximum efficiency and control. The system features 13,000, 18,000 and 26,000 lumen fixtures – all with integrated occupancy and daylight sensing, an IP65 rating, and wireless networking – that are integrated with LightRules lighting management software for standard and customized reporting and fine tuning of lighting settings. With the Intelligent Lighting System, industrial lighting becomes a well-managed resource, rather than an expensive, high-maintenance nuisance. The Intelligent Lighting System also now includes LightRules Monitor™, a remote diagnostic and optimization service. The first in a line of Digital Lumens service offerings, LightRules Monitor adds another layer to already-robust control and reporting, by giving customers insightful analysis to help align their lighting with their facility operations and wring that last bit of savings from their Intelligent Lighting System.

So, the message should be loud and clear that we are listening to feedback. All feedback. And we will continue to do our best to respond with solutions that meet our growing customer base’s requirements.

The post Expanding the Family: Introducing Xpress High Bay LED Fixture appeared first on Digital Lumens.

• Pick the right job: We started off with a specific job function that we thought tapped into the resourcefulness, attitude, and experience we were seeing in the veteran candidate pool.
• Attend the right hiring fairs: We regularly attend events that are managed by placement firms with a focus on job placement for veterans transitioning from active service. We often pay recruiting fees for these services, but the filtering and pre-qualification has proved invaluable.
• Have veterans interview other veterans: The resume of a veteran can often be difficult to decipher for a civilian. Do you really understand the ranks and commendations? Our current DL employees that are veterans can better understand the candidate’s experience and provide a relevant sounding board to determine fit and interest.
• Be prepared to sell your company: Unlike many other candidates who are choosing between your company and another hot start up, with a veteran you are often competing with a Fortune 100 company who has been hip to the veteran employee pool for a while. Stability, career growth, and opportunity are key selling points.
• Act quickly and decisively: The reason you want to hire a veteran is that they are driven and act quickly. The lackadaisical or twenty-four step hiring process typical in most start-ups will often have you being too late to the party.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to two new firms helping veterans. The first is Incline, a firm focused on training veterans in web development and founded by the daughter of one of the more traditional veteran placement firms. And then the local Cambridge-based RallyPoint, called by some the “LinkedIn for the Military,” is the most recent winner of the MassChallenge top Diamond Prize and set to launch this week.

Again, I urge all business owners – particularly start-ups – to consider hiring a veteran. It will be the right thing for your business and will honor their service to our country. And a personal thank you to the DL team members who served – Aric, Aaron, Damon, Josh, Mike, and Thomas.

The post How Do We Hire Veterans? appeared first on Digital Lumens.

Since industrial lighting technologies and performance hadn’t evolved much since the invention of the Edison light bulb, staff simply accepted limitations, including glare or a constant hum. Then came LEDs, although in the early days it wasn’t clear that they could meet the rigorous light-level requirements – particularly for manufacturing facilities – while delivering energy savings that make them cost-effective. Early efforts in industrial LED lighting didn’t deliver on the promise.

In the last two years, any doubts about LEDs’ abilities to meet these challenges have been answered with intelligent LED systems. These systems address the intense light level requirements, and slash energy costs by integrating the intelligence that drives excellent project economics.

Here are some thoughts on why this is the perfect time for industrial LED lighting:

• LED fixtures have become cheaper due to reduced LED chip costs and more innovative and cost-effective designs. In fact, LED chips now may be only 20% or less of the total cost of an LED fixture. So, prices are not likely to continue to drop rapidly;
• Improved thermal designs that allow LED fixtures, whose lifetimes are affected by ambient temperature, to last 100,000+ hours without losing significant light output;
• Daylight harvesting, which allows each fixture to dim in response to light from windows and skylights.  When each fixture is able to automatically and independently respond to ambient light, the light delivered is uniform and consistent, while maximizing savings;
• Intelligence, which matches light delivery to the tasks and schedule of the facility.  No wasted light, and maximum savings.  With the higher occupancy of a manufacturing facility vs. a warehouse, intelligence optimizes savings and creates a compelling business case.

In two recent Digital Lumens deployments, the performance and project economics in large-scale manufacturing and repair facilities show both the power and the savings of intelligent LED lighting systems:

• Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services’ maintenance facility selected Digital Lumens for their lighting upgrade (see press release here). Vector’s HID fixtures were replaced one-for-one with our Intelligent Lighting System, which delivers better, higher output lighting focused on the work surfaces that are critical to this precision maintenance and repair business.  The System delivers lighting levels necessary to illuminate workstations, with none of the glare of fluorescents or other LED alternatives they evaluated. And, the Vector facility management team has access to all lighting performance metrics – all while reducing annual lighting energy costs by 72%.

• Creed Monarch, a contract manufacturer in New Britain, CT wanted complete control over lighting in their busy facility (see press release here). Creed Monarch is saving 75% on their lighting energy bills after replacing all of their HPS fixtures with the Intelligent Lighting System. The Creed Monarch operations team is continuing to fine tune lighting settings to support their operations and expects to further enhance their energy savings in the process. Their payback period should be less than two years.

These energy savings – combined with excellent light quality and the ability to manage lighting settings to meet facility needs – are rapidly driving the adoption of intelligent LED lighting across a broad range of industrial environments.

Learn more about the range of companies and environments benefitting from intelligent LED systems in our recent webinar Case Studies in Intelligent Lighting (archive link here), and visit our case studies page (link), as well.

The post Intelligent LEDs Bring Savings to Variety of Industrial Environments appeared first on Digital Lumens.

One way that facilities are making the best use of their available space is with mobile racking systems. These storage racks move and join with adjacent sets of industrial-sized shelving, opening up to allow a forklift to enter. This allows facilities to greatly increase storage space over a facility with fixed shelving. Mobile racking systems are more common in Europe due to space constraints, and our intelligent lighting complements those systems with energy efficiency and space efficiency.

One such facility that combines mobile racking with our intelligent lighting system is our recently announced customer, Ardo UK in Kent, England, one of the largest frozen fruit, vegetable and carbohydrate producers in the world. Previously, Ardo kept their aging 400W HID lights on 24/7. There was no way to dim or automatically trigger on/off with these fixtures, and forget about trying to synch up lighting that would adjust to illuminate the most active parts of the cold storage area or keep up with mobile racks. While the space was used efficiently, the lighting wasn’t.

Now, with the installation of Digital Lumens Intelligent Lighting System, as the racks open in Ardo’s mobile racking storage, integrated occupancy sensors within each fixture turn lights on to provide lighting for workers when and where needed. If an aisle is vacant for more than 30 seconds, lighting turns off until a sensor is reactivated. Lighting instantly reaches full illumination, then dims again.

The system is enabling Ardo UK to reduce annual lighting energy costs by an amazing 97%, and further deliver on its company-wide commitment to sustainability. No other lighting options exist that can keep up with moving storage units and active staff in modern facilities, and deliver savings to smart companies like Ardo.

We are honored that Ardo UK selected the Digital Lumens Intelligent Lighting System to keep up with their busy, automated facility. We’re always looking to meet customers’ most challenging demands, while we deliver energy savings and great lighting.

The post Intelligent Lighting Keeps Up With Mobile Racking appeared first on Digital Lumens.

But recent events in my town, as well as other experiences, make me worry about the safety of our biking team members. Sadly, last week, a cyclist, Alex Motsenigos, was killed in a tragic hit-and-run incident in broad daylight. While the particulars of the accident are as-yet unknown, the news shook me, my fellow cyclists, and family to the core. As I shared the information, responses included my brother’s relieved, “Thank God, it wasn’t you,” to my cycling group’s chorus of, “I am here. Ride safe. Regrets and thoughts to the family.” Most striking to me was the response from my teenager daughter, whom I had almost convinced to race cyclocross with me this fall, who said, “Dad, I think I don’t want to ride with you.”

This incident and the related conversation brought to mind a recent exchange I had had early one morning as I was on a piano (easy) ride with a good friend. We talked about how the relationship between drivers and cyclists was getting out of hand. All of us cyclists recognize drivers by type — from the menacing landscaper in the pickup, to the oblivious parent talking on the cell phone while toting kids to school, to the randomly aggressive driver. And we are always vigilant – aware of the potential danger in any driver/cyclist encounter – because simple physics favor the driver of the car over the cyclist in all situations.

Just as there are inconsiderate drivers, there are inconsiderate cyclists. But as someone who transitions from an early morning cyclist into a rush-hour commuter, I am critically aware of the cyclists on the road and the fact that they are increasingly common. The rapid and widespread adoption of Hubway in Boston, for example, has expanded the ranks of casual riders, and further increased the need for greater awareness and consideration on the part of drivers. Bikers are here to stay, and should not have to be the only vigilant ones. Everyone should be.

What happened to Alex does not need to happen again. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

The post We Ride Bikes. Please Don’t Hit Us! appeared first on Digital Lumens.

• Why LEDs Will Dominate Industrial Lighting – Perhaps Before Other Sectors
• TM-21: LED Lifetime Revisited
• How Can a Facility be Busy, But Only 20% Occupied?
• The Truth About LED Lifetimes
• Waiting for LED Prices to Drop Will Cost You Big
• Beyond the LED Chip: How Integration and Balance of System Will Drive Adoption
• Rapidly Scaling Intelligent Decisions Locks in Savings
• Energy Efficiency Investments Must Make Dollars and Sense
• Your Mother Was Right. Turn Out the Lights!
• Point in Time Energy Efficiency Rating Not Sufficient; Continuous Commissioning Required
• Convergence of Prevailing Laws — Haitz + Moore — Enables Intelligent Lighting
• DOE Projects Savings Potential of LEDs. Too Conservative?

And then there’s a DL classic, showing the effects of heat from traditional HID high bay lights vs. the original Digital Lumens high bay intelligent LED light:

• When Bad Things Happen to Good Bunnies

Add a few of these to your summer reading list!

The post Industrial Lighting Blog Highlights appeared first on Digital Lumens.