Luminaire Level Lighting Controls

What are luminaire-level lighting controls?

LLLCs are connected systems of luminaires that individually contain control and sensor components. Lighting controls like LLLCs can deliver substantial energy savings.

LLLCs bridge the gap between light fixtures and controls components, simplifying design and installation by reducing the quantity of components installed onsite since they are contained within the fixture itself. Additionally, many LLLCs leverage wireless communications, eliminating the costly requirement to re-wire in existing buildings and pull and troubleshoot dimming and communication wires in new construction.

Benefits of luminaire-level lighting controls

By enabling precise control over lighting, LLLCs allow for efficient energy management when implementing strategies like motion control, daylight harvesting, high-end trim, scheduling, and personal controls. Integration with external systems can lead to even deeper savings, utilizing demand response for load shedding, and informing HVAC systems when spaces are vacant or occupied. Emergency tests can be automated, which reduces maintenance labor profoundly by utilizing emergency LLLCs.

LLLCs provide individual control of each light fixture, so reconfiguration of control zones can also be done without rewiring. There are systems available on the market today that can be programmed by anyone with a smartphone, greatly reducing the marginal cost associated with other networked lighting controls that require highly skilled programmers.

In addition to the integration examples listed above, LLLCs enable a myriad of data-driven insights about the built environment. Space utilization data from LLLCs can be used to inform cleaning schedules and other operational insights. LLLCs can also provide the infrastructure for indoor positioning, enabling people to find their way through large and complex facilities based on the spatial positioning of the light fixture(s) they are near. Instead of occupancy and daylight sensors, LLLCs can be equipped with humidity and temperature sensors, providing access to environmental conditions throughout a facility.

Why we’re working to advance the adoption of luminaire-level lighting controls

LLLCs offer a compelling value proposition beyond energy savings. Simplifying energy code compliance, reducing the number of components required and eliminating the need for complex low voltage data cabling in new construction and major renovations, LLLCs will soon become the standard approach to incorporating lighting controls in commercial and industrial buildings.

Luminaire-Level Lighting Controls Team Lead

Monique "Q" Gagne

Initiative Manager, Luminaire-Level Lighting Controls

Q Gagne (they/them), joins CEE's Market Transformation team as an initiative manager focused on luminaire-level lighting controls. Q oversees and manages SCALE (Smart Controls Accelerating Lighting Efficiency), under the Efficent Technology Accelerator, a statewide market transformation effort funded by Minnesota’s investor-owned utilities.

With a decade of experience in the lighting industry and an expertise in controls, their career in lighting began with Lutron Electronics and a role in Commercial Specification Sales, where they learned how the market operated in the new era of LEDs. They then gained hands-on experience with implementing lighting controls in the built environment as a Systems Engineer for Signify (formerly Philips Lighting).