One of the things that make a smart building stand out from the rest is the use of intelligent building lighting systems, among other brilliant concepts. Lighting is an essential component in any building. However, the continued use of traditional lighting systems accounts for over 40% of the total energy consumption in most buildings.
Smart buildings are slowly changing the story by incorporating smart building lighting into their systems. Moreover, with the IoT emergence, smart buildings need new level lighting systems with controls. They also need lighting systems to integrate with other strategies for better communication opportunities, real-time data on anything going on around the buildings, more energy-saving benefits, and the best user experiences.
IoT demands more than just effective control systems with a few switches and timers. Smart building lighting systems need to offer much more than just lighting for the users to enjoy all the benefits that come with the system. After all, LED lights that make up the smart building lighting systems quickly become the leading light sources in smart buildings.
Five Requirements of a Smart Building Lighting System
-
Intelligent
Smart building lighting needs to offer more than just a lighting experience. It needs to be intelligent enough to be a means of communication and data collection. It needs to become more smart-enabled by leveraging its infrastructure. Smart enabling makes it easier and better to understand its place especially if you combine it with robust Building Automation Systems (BAS).
The system needs to be intelligent enough to make some decisions without pushing from other sources. The ability to make decisions for itself helps the system execute most of the predefined complex reactions to several inputs.
-
Centralization
A smart building lighting system requires centralization with either a localized or a cloud-based server. Connecting the lighting controls with a central database makes it easier to capture information from inside and outside the building. Moreover, centralizing the lighting system makes it possible to operate the controls from various remote and local locations.
-
Addressable
Another requirement of a smart building lighting system is the ability to be easily addressable. The lighting bulbs should have the ability to act independently from each other. The requirement would be for each bulb to work differently from the one next to it. Each one maintains a constant reassessing of its overall output according to the collective and individual data analytics.
-
Communication
The ability to be communicative is another crucial requirement of an intelligent lighting system. Both the lighting system and the building operation or management team need to tell each other what to do. Meeting this requirement makes it easier for the operation or management team to get updated energy performance data from the system.
The team can then use the data to optimize lighting consumption and learn where and when the system needs maintenance.
-
Comfort
Occupant comfort is an essential aspect of any building, and when installing an innovative lighting system, that should be one of the requirements to consider. Some of the things that ensure maximum occupant comfort include the proper humidity, temperature, safety, air quality, and natural lighting. An intelligent lighting system should be able to detect anything unusual about the expected normal levels of all the parameters.
The smart lights should help create an ambient environment and adjust to circadian rhythms for the wellbeing of all building occupants. The sensors on the lights should also have the ability to inform the occupants of any unusual activities around or inside the building to ensure they stay safe.
Wrapping it up
A smart building lighting system does more than just light up a building. It is smart, intelligent, communicative, and addressable, centralized, and provides comfort for all the building occupants. Besides these requirements, an intelligent lighting system also provides better ROI for home and building owners because they add positive value to smart real estate. A smart building lighting system makes it safer to live in smart buildings.
Read More on KulFiy:
The Benefits of Flexible Robot Arms Over Tool Changers