Lighting Guide 14: Control of electric lighting

Sophie Parry

• Publisher: The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers/ The Society of Light and Lighting
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781906846848
• Topic: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Subtopic: Bau- & Architekturtechnik

Lighting control of electric light is not a new concept — lighting control in some form is as old as lighting itself. This guide has been produced to inform what is meant by lighting controls for electric light relative to project specification and design in the 21st century.The term lighting controls may mean different things to different people: — Architects: • blinds, shutters and shading associated with fenestration and daylight ingress; these shading devices may be manually and/or automatically controlled• daylight harvesting• the application of light and associated controls to further enhance architectural features/spaces.— Lighting designers: • manual switching or automatic controls• dimming and/or switching of luminaires for effect or lighting scenes• dimming and/or switching of luminaires for energy reduction• changing colour temperature/output level of light sources for health and wellbeing.• bi-directional communication with individual luminaires to monitor performance and to initiate automatic test/feedback sequences• interfacing with other systems e.g. fire alarms, a/v systems, bms or local hvac control.— End users: • a means of getting the best performance from a lighting design, in terms of energy consumption and the quality of delivered light, be it daylight, electric light or a combination of both• an expectation that the lighting control system is simple yet effective in terms of the human interface and therefore beneficial to the lighting design and installation.This guide covers internal and external electric lighting control but does not cover solar blind and shutter control, theatre or advertising electric lighting control.Given the above myriad definitions, the expectations and possibilities for the performance specification of 'lighting controls' requires a consultative approach with project stakeholders and should commence from the early stages of architectural building design through to services design to ensure that the performance objective for the lighting control system is defined and understoodand then designed, specified, installed, commissioned and handed over according to the project performance requirement.Luminaire technology, energy efficiency legislation and rising energy costs are the most common drivers for the incorporation of lighting controls into a project. This means that lighting controls are increasingly becoming essential rather than an 'optional extra/nice to have' project consideration.