How Do You Save Energy with Lighting Control Systems?
Make Your Home More Energy-Efficient with Smart Lighting
Normally, lighting accounts for 15-25% of your energy bill, depending on your home's size and usage patterns. While it's not the biggest energy drain (that would be your HVAC at 40%), it's the area where it's easiest to reduce waste with a few lifestyle changes. For example, moving to LED bulbs could reduce your energy use by 50%.
That's where a lighting control system comes in. By providing intuitive and automated controls, you'll ensure you're only using lights when needed. Incorporating motorized shades to manage natural lighting will also cut down on HVAC costs. Check out some unique ways lighting control reduces the energy bills in your Portland, OR, home.
SEE MORE: What Is Home Lighting Automation?
Schedules
Most useful for outdoor lighting, schedules keep lights on when needed and turned off as soon as they're not. For example, have lights turn on when the sun sets and off at sunrise to keep your outdoor spaces properly illuminated without wasting energy when the sun is out. Some lighting control systems keep track of sunlight times in your area to adjust the schedule as needed throughout the year.
Sensors
Two types of sensors will help curtail your energy use. The most common are occupancy sensors. They'll turn lights off in unused rooms, so there's no more feuding in the house over those who never turn off lights. We recommend them in common problem areas like kitchens, bathrooms, and home offices. The other type of sensor is a photosensor. If they sense sunlight, they'll either dim or turn off lights to take advantage of natural lighting.
Dimming
Lighting control allows you to dim fixtures using voice commands, elegant keypads, touchpads, or a mobile app. With the ability to dim from 0 to 100%, you can choose the perfect lighting for any situation, so you're not using full brightness when it's not needed. Save your favorite settings for reading, watching movies, or cooking and pull them up easily.
Centralized Control
Have full visibility over the status of all your lights on your mobile app or dedicated touchpad. Quickly check to see which are on and, if no longer needed, turn them off remotely, even if you're not in the same room or away from home. From the same interface, easily dim lights up or down to adjust to changing sunlight.
Motorized Shades
Your lighting control shouldn't focus solely on artificial lighting. It's just as important to manage the natural lighting with motorized shades. Motorized shades reduce your energy use in a few ways. The first one is daylighting, which we alluded to earlier. If sunlight is available, shades open to let in the natural light.
Remember how we mentioned your HVAC is the biggest energy drain in your home? Shades help there as well! They are great for keeping heat gain out and keeping warm air from escaping, so they'll help manage temperature throughout the year. Your thermostat can communicate with them directly to open or close to help meet your ideal temperature.
If you want to learn more about how to make your home more energy efficient, we'd love to help! Reach out by calling or filling out our contact form.
