26 Jul 2023

How to Set the Mood and Save Energy with Automated Lighting Systems

In the rapidly-evolving world of technology, lighting control systems have revolutionised the way we interact with our living spaces. From residential homes to commercial buildings, these intelligent systems offer enhanced control and flexibility, which offer numerous benefits beyond conventional manual control.

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Automated lighting systems provide users with the ability to set the mood and save energy simultaneously. By utilising smart technology and intelligent programming, you can create the perfect ambience for any occasion while reducing your carbon footprint, says Matthew Allen-Olivar, Senior Lighting Designer at John Cullen Lighting.

Smart lighting empowers users to create personalised lighting scenes that enhance the mood and ambience of a space. Whether you are looking to achieve a vibrant and energetic scene when hosting an event at home, a calm and relaxing atmosphere for winding down in the evening, or a bright and focused environment in the workplace, smart lighting systems allow effortless control. They are accommodated to the user’s requirements. With a simple touch of a button, a cleverly-placed sensor, or even a voice command, the space can be transformed to suit the user’s particular needs.

One powerful feature of smart lighting systems is automation. This allows users to schedule lighting changes throughout the day, ensuring lights are automatically turned on, off or even set at a certain level based on predetermined settings. Traditional lighting options often lead to wastefulness and inconvenience, such as forgetting to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms or having to physically turn lights on and off, for example, in the garden at night time. Smart lighting eliminates these issues by providing features such as occupancy sensors, light sensors and timers. A simple use of these sensors with an automation system can detect movement and automatically turn off lights when no activity is detected, thus preventing unnecessary energy consumption. Additionally, in the use of a garden, not only can it trigger the lights to turn on at dusk automatically, but it can helpfully ensure lights are turned off (or only lights for security remain turned on) past a certain time, thus ensuring that you can peacefully drop off into sleep knowing that you won’t be burning the energy bill throughout the night.

Another powerful example of how automation and the use of sensors can play a pivotal role in energy saving is daylight harvesting. Daylight harvesting utilises natural light by dimming or turning off artificial lights when plentiful daylight is available. In other words, the system will ensure a certain level of lumens are being delivered into a space throughout the day and will adjust the artificial light accordingly to ensure the lights aren’t turned on unnecessarily when sufficient daylight is detected, thereby reducing energy consumption significantly. This is particularly applicable and advantageous to the large office towers that are being erected across the globe, which have large facades dominated by glass. As you can imagine, these will have a fluctuating supply of natural daylight flooding through depending on the time of day or distance of the desk or office from the glass windows. In this day and age, there are a myriad of intelligent sensors and tools that can be used in unison with lighting systems to create the perfect marriage between convenience and control.

Automation not only saves energy but also offers the benefit of simplifying daily routines, making it more convenient and effortless to go about your day without having to worry about making lighting adjustments. An example of this would be to implement a ‘wake-up’ scene that could simulate natural daylight by gradually increasing the brightness and colour temperature. This would be set by a timer or even linked to an alarm to help ease you into your morning routine. But this does not have to be limited to a specific event. For example, in a home, the automation can be tailored to the user’s daily usage of the space, ensuring that you have the desired lighting levels and colour temperatures best suited for how you intend to use each room throughout the day. In a commercial setting, the automation could be based on what lighting would best enhance each of the rooms, aid in productivity or provide the best comfort to your staff throughout the day. This can be linked to other smart home systems or building automation systems, adding an extra layer of convenience.

Another benefit of having an automated lighting system is security. Leaving some lighting on in the home, even when it isn’t habited, is a tried and tested method of discouraging burglars, traditionally utilising a table lamp in a hall. With a central control system, it is possible to programme ‘timed events’. The system learns your usual lighting habits and repeats these on demand in those internal areas visible from the road in your absence.

Smart lighting systems offer an array of benefits, from the ability to customise the mood within a space to energy efficiency, ease of use and security. By leveraging automation, users can effortlessly enjoy dynamic lighting control while saving energy simultaneously. The integration of smart lighting with other devices and the ability to create personalised lighting scenes provide a versatile living experience. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely that lighting control systems will become even more intuitive, efficient and seamlessly integrated, transforming our lighting experiences and improving the way we interact with our environments.

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