CEO Mike D'Amour interviewed by Ken Sinclair
EMAIL INTERVIEW
Michael D'Amour
& Ken Sinclair
Michael D'Amour, CEO
Lumenergi
The Critical Role of Smart Lighting
Lighting is the largest controllable energy
segment in a building's portfolio.
Sinclair: I see that
Lumenergi offers a next generation integrated lighting management solution which
helps enable a smarter energy grid. Can you tell us a little about the role you
see integrated lighting playing in the future of energy efficiency?
D'Amour: Thanks Ken, happy to discuss. As
I am sure you will agree, achieving a smarter energy grid is a high priority
for our nation. In October, the Obama administration announced that it was
going to award $3.4 billion in funding for grid modernization through the
Smart Grid Investment Grant awards, which will be complemented by $4.7
billion in private money. At the same time, federal mandates on real-time
pricing tariffs are coming down the pike, and unless customers want to be
powerless to respond to these higher dynamic prices, they will need to start
monitoring and controlling how they consume electricity.
Lighting is the largest controllable energy segment in a building's
portfolio, accounting for approximately 30 percent of commercial building
energy usage. These motivating factors have created an environment that is
primed for the broad adoption of intelligent lighting systems. While
intelligent lighting is an essential component of smart buildings and
intrinsically complements the development of a smarter energy grid, only
about three percent of lighting is intelligently managed today.
We aim to create energy efficient, demand response-enabled buildings that
can nimbly respond to ever changing electricity market conditions. Our
system is affordable, efficient, easy to use, and offers impressively fast
payback. We think that our solution, and others like it, is a key component
of a smart grid.
Sinclair: Very
interesting, and I agree with your assertions. So, can you tell me about what
Lumenergi is offering and what makes you unique?
D'Amour: Sure. We provide customers with a
fully integrated lighting solution that takes the concept of smart lighting
to the next level. Our system helps customers achieve energy efficient,
demand response-enabled buildings by installing lighting systems that
provide real time monitoring, feedback, and control. From usage data,
building managers can determine where lighting is being improperly used and
can modify the lighting directly from the computer screen. Our patented,
intelligent dimmable ballasts can very easily replace traditional "dumb"
ballasts during a lighting retrofit, or can be incorporated into new
construction.
Our smart ballasts are powered by our advanced Lighting Management Control
System. This system puts a greater level of control and functionality in the
hands of building managers and occupants, allowing them to save money
through more intelligent use of lighting and lower maintenance operation
costs. The system will email you when you have a light burned out, when you
are having a ballast problem or when a large room is due for re-lamping.
Also, it helps created a more enjoyable, customized, and visually pleasing
user experience.
The system offers a number of advantages over similar products on the
market. The system has an incredibly fast payback time – averaging between
one and three years before government incentives, which makes this a smart
financial choice for building managers looking to increase their energy
efficiency and optimize their buildings for demand response.
Our ballasts are compatible with the Lumenergi LMCS system and other
manufacturer's control systems. The ballasts can operate in either DALI or
industry-standard low voltage 0-10V control modes. They take a wide-range of
electrical inputs, ranging from 120V to 277V and even 48VDC for emergency
lighting applications. With their microprocessor controlled sensing, our
ballasts handle one to three lamp deployments of T5, T5HO or T8 lamps with a
single product model, iB-100. This provides great flexibility, dramatically
reduces stocking costs and eliminates installation mistakes.
Also, our two-way communication is a big bonus for building managers,
allowing them to monitor each individual light, which ensures that the whole
system is operating as efficiently as possible.
Sinclair: What kind of
impact does using an intelligent lighting system have on a building's overall
energy usage?
D'Amour: Utilizing an intelligent lighting
system like ours can save between 50-70% on lighting energy usage and cost,
depending on what type of building and system configuration the building
manager chooses to incorporate. And it is important to remember that we are
able to do this without sacrificing occupant comfort or the visual appeal of
lighting. In fact, we have found that many people prefer the lighting levels
that our system provides, as it enhances visual comfort, and allows
individual occupants to adjust and tune the lighting in their personal
spaces.
Here is a list of ways that a smart lighting management system can help
buildings save energy and money:
Daylighting: Using light sensors inputs, the system adjusts light
levels in response to the availability of natural lighting in a room.
Potential Energy Savings: 35–45% in daylit areas.
Task Tuning: Task Tuning allows lighting designers to control
individual lighting according to task and working environments. The ability
to implement this kind of work and task lighting control strategy can save
considerable energy when implementing industry recognized, IES recommended
lighting levels or those levels specified by the lighting consultant or
engineer. Potential Energy Savings: 15–25%.
Scheduling: Using advanced scheduling, the system can provide the
appropriate lighting level for individual light in different parts of
buildings for different time of the day, day of the week and month, holidays
and special event through different seasons. Potential Energy Savings:
15–25%.
Lumen Maintenance: Lumen depreciation is the loss of light output as
a fluorescent or LED lamp ages. Lumen maintenance controls solve this
problem through reducing power during higher initial lamp output, then
increasing power as lamps age and degrade to maintain appropriate light
levels. Lights are no longer forced to produce more lumens than necessary to
make up for their end-of-life dimness. Potential Energy Savings: 7–10%.
Occupancy Sensing: Lights are dimmed to the off state when the system
detects that there are no longer occupants in a particular room or area. As
building occupants move from location to location, the system dynamically
responds to user-traffic patterns, providing the right level of light where
it's needed and shutting off areas which are vacant without startling
changes. Potential Energy Savings: 15–25%.
Personal Control: Through individual software clients, web-based
interfaces or IR remote controllers, the personal control capabilities allow
individuals to personalize the amount of dimming they prefer in their
offices or work areas within globally-set system limits. Potential Energy
Savings: 10-15%.
Load Shedding/Demand Response: Load Shedding, sometimes termed Demand
Side Management or Demand Response, allows lighting to be either adjusted
discreetly; within set limits in response to building energy demands; or,
dynamically in response to emergency signals or real time pricing signals to
monitor, shed and report (sub meter) on the actual reductions implemented
and their effect on building systems and consumption. Potential Energy
Savings: Energy Rebates.
Sinclair: Walk our readers through the process of
installing an intelligent lighting system. Is it possible to retrofit an
existing system or do you have to start from scratch?
D'Amour: One of the great things about the
Lumenergi system is that it is simple to install, either as part of a
building retrofit or during new construction. One or more LMCS controllers,
each capable of controlling 50,000 ft2 to 100,000 ft2
are mounted in convenient utility closets. They are networked together to
control the building as a whole through a single LMCS server hub. If
desired, the LMCS server may be connected to an existing BMS through BACnet.
The next step is to install the intelligent ballasts. In retrofits, this is
a process of simply removing the original ballast and installing our more
sophisticated version, and then daisy chaining a wire to the floor
controller. The individual ballasts are controlled and operated using
standard DALI, which allows them to be controlled and to be monitored by the
control system or simple 0-10V analog control signals.
Once this is completed, the building manager will have total control over
the whole lighting system, with the ability to monitor and access data from
individual lights through a user-friendly software platform. The system has
built-in redundancy to be fault tolerant.
Sinclair: How does your
intelligent lighting system work with BMS?
D'Amour: The Lumenergi system is an important
complement to a BMS. Did you know that 42 percent of cooling load is created
due to heat generated by lighting? Intelligent lighting control has a
corresponding effect and reduction on HVAC use.
Our system communicates to a BMS through BACnet. Through this communication,
we can actually make HVAC smarter. For example, we can make our occupancy
sensors’ data available to the HVAC system, allowing the air conditioning to
be dialed back when no one is present. We can make occupancy sensor input
available to security systems as well, to improve security of the building.
In this way, the ubiquitous lighting network can be used to obviate the need
for additional sensors and home run wiring for sensors. Another interesting
example is that we can feed demand response information that we receive
through our smart grid interface to HVAC, effectively enabling HVAC systems
to shed load when they have this capability. As you can tell, the
opportunities are extensive for integrating an LMCS into an overall BMS.
About Lumenergi
Lumenergi designs and manufactures the industry’s most cost-effective and advanced dimming electronic ballasts and intelligent, network-controlled lighting management systems. The company’s products help building owners significantly improve their bottom line with 50 to 70 percent energy savings. Lumenergi incorporates innovative lighting strategies including daylight harvesting, scheduling, task tuning, occupancy sensing, and the most comprehensive demand response and load shedding system available. Lumenergi solutions reduce maintenance costs, enable smarter energy management through real-time monitoring and control, and hedge against increasing electricity rates and efficiency standards.
Lumenergi, Inc. is a privately held venture-funded company based in Newark, California. For more information about Lumenergi, visit
www.lumenergi.com.
For more information contact:
Atsuko D’Amour
Lumenergi
510-574-7442
adamour@Lumenergi.com
Kate Casolaro
Antenna Group, Inc., for Lumenergi
415-977-1917
kate@antennagroup.com
