Both in the home and the workplace, lighting is responsible for a significant proportion of energy costs. Lights being left on when they are not needed or operating at a higher intensity than is required is wasteful in terms of both financial costs and natural resources. Furthermore, the excess energy usage makes a substantial contribution to the carbon footprint of homes and businesses. By installing lighting controls, it is possible to curb these waste, pollution and financial factors.

Dimming controls

One type of lighting control provides automatic dimming and brightening according to the amount of daylight entering the room. In-built sensors detect the presence and intensity of natural sunlight in an office or living room for example, and use digital controls to set the output of electrical lights accordingly. This is a highly effective energy conservation strategy as it ensures that only as much electrical light as is needed is used. For example, in an office with plenty of windows on a day of changing weather, the lights will dim as the sun comes out, and brighten as the sky clouds over.

Motion Sensor lighting

Occupancy control is particularly useful for areas of the workplace that are used infrequently but are subject to a high volume of traffic, such as the staff kitchen or bathrooms. These controls use motion sensors to detect whether anyone is in the room, and, after a pre-set period, switch the lights off accordingly. When a person enters the room again, the occupancy control system will turn the lights back on. This is a vital way of saving on energy usage, as it ensures that lights are only used when they are needed Fixed battery series Manufacturers without relying on human factors such as remembering to switch the lights off.

Other lighting controls can be used to prevent energy waste by automatically turning the lighting on and off as it is needed over the period of a day. This is highly effective in places such as office blocks that operate on a predictable daily schedule. Lights can be set to turn on at a specific time of the day, such as just as staff are arriving for work, and then turn themselves off at the end of office hours. They can also be programmed to be inactive at weekends if necessary.

Lighting Ballasts and increased energy efficiency

A range of electrical ballasts is available to provide optimum lighting control. The electronic Tridonic Atco Ballast for dimming provides users with precise controls. With a dimming range of 1-100% of full output, the ballast enables users to set the light intensity to suit their needs or the time of the day.

For high intensity discharge lamps, digital and electronic ballasts can be used to regulate the current supplied to the lighting and thus provide greater efficiency. A range of Newlec High Intensity Discharge Ballasts are available from 70W to 400W, providing low power losses and increasing the overall efficiency of emergency lighting solutions.