14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More

www.daintree.net White Paper .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 14 Strategies to Save Up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting ...and More White Paper: 14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More Daintree Networks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Executive Summary There is no place for poor lighting in warehouses or distribution centers. These facilities support a variety of important tasks from picking and packaging to shipping and receiving, light assembly and even office work. Since multiple functions are often performed in the same area, lighting takes on even more significance because of the need for different light levels. Warehouse managers are looking for high quality levels, but at a much lower cost. Now there is a way to benefit from technology advances to ensure the most effective lighting while also providing immense energy savings. Today’s advanced lighting control offers the following: - Energy savings of up to 70% - Flexibility in scheduling lighting operation - Improved lighting quality and increased occupant satisfaction - Ability to track energy costs and savings in real time - Ability to control lighting on-site or remotely from a web-based interface, like a smart phone or wireless computer It is also possible to combine lighting control with the ability to manage other power sources for even greater returns, as we will see later in this paper. Lighting control has a tremendous capacity for saving energy and money in commercial buildings. About $200B is spent globally on lighting energy each year, around half of which comes from commercial buildings. And yet, much of that energy is still wasted – lights are left on in unoccupied areas and rooms are consistently over-lit, even when technology tools exist to solve these problems. A common misconception of a “lighting control solution” is that it is simply an occupancy sensor, turning the lights on and off in a single room. And while this can certainly save energy and money, it’s just the simplest of many control strategies designed to provide more intelligent, sustainable buildings. Today’s lighting control systems have moved beyond the stand- alone occupancy-based products to provide true system-level control over lighting. If properly applied, the result can be tremendous savings, better occupant comfort, improved building management, and more. The purpose of this white paper is to describe 14 distinct control strategies enabled by today’s most advanced lighting control systems, and discuss the technology attributes that are required in order to take advantage of these strategies. Only by utilizing technology that is intelligent, networked, wireless and open can lighting control solutions provide the most comprehensive savings and control. White Paper: 14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More Daintree Networks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Types of Lighting Control Systems There are a myriad of lighting control technologies, systems, and components on the commercial market. Generally, though, lighting control can be divided by capability into room-based control, and “advanced” or networked control. For the purposes of this paper, we can further divide the advanced category into “traditional” advanced systems – wired and proprietary – and the new generation of open, wireless control. As we will show, these distinctions are more than aca- demic – they represent substantial differences in capabilities and potential savings. Room-based Control: Most lighting control installations today still fall into the category of room-based control. These solutions are not true lighting control systems, but rather individual components that provide a single lighting control strategy. As an example, an individual occupancy sensor can be connected via low voltage wiring to a set of light fixtures in a room, and this process can be repeated in the next room and so on. The result is to add automated occupancy control to each of those rooms, individually. The same process can be repeated with other control components. Centralized Control: The next step up in capabilities is a centralized control system – for example, a lighting panel or a Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI)-based solution. In these systems, each lighting element (sensors, wall switch- es, fixtures, etc.) is hard-wired back to a centralized controller, panel or computer. In other words, lighting in these solutions is controlled as a system or network. These systems typically combine a discrete set of control capabilities (or “strategies”) such as scheduling, occupancy, daylighting, etc., and provide a physical interface for controlling any device hard-wired to the panel. Such systems are often proprietary, with a single vendor providing both the controller and the devices being controlled (which are only compatible with each other). Next Generation Control: The next generation of control systems builds upon the advantages of advanced control but removes the limitations. Wireless networking enables larger-scale systems with control that can be accessed from anywhere, and adjusted without physical wiring. Open standards eliminate the restrictions of proprietary systems, enabling a single control system to utilize control devices from a variety of vendors. Integration with non-lighting products enables savings that go beyond lighting, into areas such as HVAC and plug loads. The result is an even more comprehensive set of energy monitoring and management tools, with centralized control. Advantages of Advanced Control In short, more advanced control equates to greater financial savings. Each individual control strategy brings savings; when applied together, though, these savings stack up. For example, while a room might reduce lighting energy usage by 30% through occupancy sensing, that same room could save 60% by using occupancy sensing, daylighting and scheduling at the same time. And several control strategies can only be implemented with an advanced, networked system, making such systems a requirement in order to realize the greatest savings. Savings from lighting control can come from several sources. The primary source is reduction in energy usage. The purpose of the most commonly-adopted control strategies (occupancy sensing, scheduling, etc.) is to eliminate unnecessary lighting, thereby reducing energy usage and saving energy costs. Savings in some advanced systems can also come from other sources as well – for example, by reducing lighting maintenance requirements or reducing the time and labor associated with managing lighting. And of course, government and utility incentives tend to reward greater energy reduction, providing even more savings. Savings from lighting control systems are also not static – they change over time. With more basic installations, energy savings tend to shrink over time, as the orig- inal design of the solution diverges from the current needs of the building and its occupants. More advanced systems can “self-correct” or adapt to retain value over time. And the most intelligent systems can actually improve their value over time, by automatically recognizing potential areas of energy savings and improvement. Finally, open standard systems offer the ability to add new capabilities in the future that go beyond lighting, for even greater value over time. These applications will be discussed later in this paper. The intelligence of advanced control systems provides other benefits that basic control cannot offer, above and beyond simple financial savings: • Greater centralized control: For many building owners and operators, gaining centralized control and visibility over their lighting and other energy loads is a benefit in itself, offering better management and reporting. • Occupant comfort: The most intelligent lighting control solutions enable lighting that automatically or manually adapts to each occupant’s needs, for greater comfort and productivity. Balancing savings with comfort is a critical function that requires an adaptable system. • Green certifications: Advanced control systems can provide valuable points and credits towards LEED and other similar programs, above and beyond the credits that basic control offers. • Regulatory compliance: Regulatory measures such as ASHRAE 90.1 and California’s Title 24 are increasingly requiring more advanced lighting control measures. Over time, basic control technology will no longer be sufficient to meet building codes. Control Strategies Below, we will detail all of the common energy-saving lighting control strategies available today, as well as several emerging strategies and those that extend be- yond lighting. These are organized generally from most common to most innovative. Common Lighting Control Strategies: These strategies form the core of most lighting control systems. • Dimming: Although not always considered a true control strategy, dimming technology is utilized in several other strategies. Many lighting power supplies (e.g. ballasts, LED drivers) enable fixtures to be dimmed. Dimming the light to a fraction of its brightness will also use a fraction of the energy, allowing for many of the following strategies to reduce energy usage. The exact relationship between the brightness and the power used depends on the unique profile of the power supply. In its simplest form, dimming fixtures are paired with a dimmer switch, for manual dimming control. Dimming capabilities vary widely, from step functions up to full, smooth control over precise light levels. White Paper: 14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More Daintree Networks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 • Occupancy sensing: This is perhaps the most common of all lighting control strategies. A motion sensor (also known as an occupancy sensor) detects movement within its field of coverage, using Passive Infrared (PIR), ultrasonic, or other sensing technologies. Based on movement detection (or lack thereof) for a pre-defined period of time, lights can be automatically turned on or off. In this way, lights can be automatically turned off when a space is not in use. More sophisticated control solutions allow occupancy settings (such as on/ off lev- els, time delays, etc.) to be dynamically set or changed based on time, location and other inputs. Occupancy sensors can be built as stand-alone devices, or integrated directly into wall switches, light fixtures, furniture and more. • Scheduling: Scheduling is another method of eliminating unnecessary lighting usage when building occupants are not present. Most centralized lighting control systems provide some form of lighting schedule, the simplest example being a system that automatically turns off the lights after work hours. This is a “brute force” method of reducing energy usage, but can be effective. Some systems allow local user override of the schedule (via a wall switch), and the more sophisticated systems can create more complex schedules that alter other strategies based on time of day, day of week, time of year, etc. Advanced Lighting Control Strategies: These strategies are not as commonly used as those above, but are becoming more widely available. • Daylight Harvesting: Also known as Daylighting, this is the practice of automatically reducing artificial light levels when ambient daylight (from windows, skylights, etc.) is available. Daylighting systems typically utilize a photocell sensor (though alternate sensor technologies do exist), which measures ambient light. Based on the reading from the sensor, an algorithm will determine the appropri- ate level of artificial light, or whether the lights can be turned off altogether, and the control system will take action. A properly-designed daylighting system can provide substantial savings in window-facing areas. Daylighting can work effectively with both dimming and non-dimming lighting, and like occupancy sensors, photocell sensors come in a variety of forms and can be integrated into other products. A similar concept is commonly used in outdoor lighting, where integrated photocell sensors automatically switch lights on at dusk and off at dawn. • Task Tuning: This strategy goes under several names. The core concept is to reduce the maximum light output of each individual space to precisely meet occupant needs. Because light levels are often over-designed, or made consis- tent across a building despite the different needs of occupants, many spaces are over-lit. Some control systems offer the capability to create lighting zones and determine a “tuned” maximum light level that is lower than 100%. As an example, an occupant working with a computer monitor all day may not need the designed light level, and their area could be tuned so that the maximum level is 70%. The related concept of Lumen Maintenance stems from the fact that most lighting experiences a slow depreciation of light output over its lifetime. In this scenario, light levels are tuned down initially, but over time the control system slowly tunes levels back up to account for depreciation and maintain a constant output. • Demand Response (DR): This strategy is less about saving money, and more about earning money – by reducing peak energy demand at key times, and being reimbursed by utilities to do so. A major goal of many utility companies is to better distribute their load, reducing the demand for energy at the times of highest demand (such as hot summer days). Lighting control systems can help by reducing lighting load during those times, in response to a signal from the utility. Some control systems offer Auto-DR technology: the ability to respond to a DR “event” and reduce light levels automatically. Demand Response utility programs vary widely, but some offer significant reimbursement (such as $300 / kW) for making a building’s load available for reduction. • Personal Control: Various studies have proven the positive impact of a work- er’s environment – and their control over that environment – on their productivity and happiness. It has also been found that when occupants are given personal control over lighting, their energy usage tends to be lower. Advanced lighting control systems can use various forms of personal dimming to provide this control, ranging from remote controls to desktop dimming switches to “virtual” switches online, on a desktop computer or on a phone. • Energy Management: This strategy typically refers to a software system that enables a building or facilities manager to visualize, report on and adjust their energy usage. It is often said that you cannot manage what you cannot measure – and centralized energy management software tools provide the capability to do both, in order to test and measure the success of lighting control. Energy management saves energy over time by providing ongoing improvements to all of the other control strategies. As an example, analysis of building energy us- age compared with occupancy data over a month might point out that the office’s kitchen area sees occupants throughout the day but only for short periods of time. The system could recommend reducing the occupancy-based off-delay in this area from 15 minutes to 5 minutes, and would measure the additional savings of that action. This type of ongoing recommendation and improvement is also known as Continuous Commissioning. Lighting-Related Control Strategies: These strategies begin to extend beyond the standard goal of reducing lighting energy usage, and provide other lighting benefits. • Automated Maintenance: By monitoring and measuring energy usage at individual fixtures, some control systems can provide the capability to know when a lamp is out, or a sensor or ballast is malfunctioning. Likewise, similar information can be used to make an educated guess about when maintenance will be required. Finally, some systems can manually or automatically reconfigure in the case of a failure – for example, if an occupancy sensor fails, the lights can be re-associated with a neighboring sensor until maintenance replaces it. Together, all of this infor- mation can be used in an energy management system to improve the scheduling of maintenance calls, reducing the frequency (and cost) of lighting maintenance. White Paper: 14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More Daintree Networks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 • BMS Integration: Some advanced lighting control systems enable integration with a facility’s Building Management System (BMS), typically via BACnet or anoth- er open protocol. Through this integration, the user interface of the BMS can pro- vide integrated control and management functions. Although this strategy doesn’t save additional energy in itself, it does offer reduced management overhead (and the associated lower cost) for buildings that want to manage HVAC, lighting and other functions from a single console. Beyond Lighting: These strategies extend a single control system beyond lighting, to control (and reduce) other common energy loads. • Plug load Control: Plug loads are an area of energy usage that is rarely con- trolled but represents a significant amount of energy waste. Under this strategy, de- vices that would be plugged into a standard plug strip or outlet (such as monitors or desktop lamps) are instead plugged into a specialized “plug load controller”. These loads can then be managed according to a schedule or associated with an occupancy sensor. For example, a plug load controller can be set to automatically turn off a desk lamp at the end of the day and whenever the user leaves his desk. This reduces both wasted usage and the “vampire power” that some devices draw even when off. Generally, wireless plug load controllers that are part of a central- ized solution offer more sophisticated control options than standalone controllers. • Temperature, Humidity, CO2, and other Environmental Monitoring: One of the advantages of a centralized control system (especially wireless and standards-based systems) is the ability to add applications onto an existing network without the need to build out a new dedicated infrastructure. Several emerging applications take advantage of environmental monitoring sensors, to report on conditions in a facility and trigger alerts if those conditions exceed a threshold. For example, some data centers closely track temperature and humidity to avoid unplanned outages. In a lighting control solution that supports this appli- cation, temperature and humidity sensors can be added to the network and report real-time data. • Wireless Thermostats: Building Management Systems typically manage the thermostats and other HVAC devices within the building. As those devices have begun to roll out with wireless communications capabilities, though, buildings have balked at the requirement to build a dedicated wireless network just for thermo- stats. A wireless lighting control network can be used to avoid this requirement, routing wireless control messages to and from the thermostats via the lights. The benefit is a single building control network, eliminating the cost of building sepa- rate parallel networks. Lighting serves as an especially robust “base application” for this network, due to the large number of lighting nodes (e.g. fixtures), and their even, distributed coverage throughout the building. • Other Independent Building Systems: As with the environmental sensors above, some standards-based control systems have the capability to add control over a variety of other devices. Some examples include automated window blinds, industrial fans, and security systems. By providing centralized control over these devices, in addition to lighting, these advanced building networks can pro- vide greater control from a single integrated solution and interface. How to Take Advantage of the Most Advanced Control Strategies As detailed at the start of this paper, not every control system enables all of the above strategies. While most systems offer a subset, many are constrained due to their choice of technology, making some of the most valuable strategies impossible to implement. For example, a lighting control system that isn’t networked will not be able to provide a centralized control interface – it is a basic limitation of the technology architecture. In order to get the most out of a potential control system purchase, and enable all of the above strategies, here are some of the key attributes to look for: Networked: A networked architecture is what separates basic “room-level” control from true control systems. Without some form of networking (wired or wireless), it is impossible to take central control over lighting and therefore impos- sible to take advantage of energy management, demand response, and many other control capabilities. Non-networked control is also extremely difficult to manage, maintain and upgrade. Intelligent: Many control solutions tout “intelligence” as a feature – and it is a critical one, but difficult to define precisely. In practice, intelligence in a control system typically means a combination of multiple related attributes: • Flexible configuration, allowing facilities managers and other users to more accurately adapt to conditions and occupant needs. In other words, an intelligent control system usually includes a powerful and feature-rich user interface for setting or changing controls. • Automated control algorithms that make decisions based on multiple inputs. For example, an intelligent control system could combine ambient light readings with time of day, day of week, location, user preference and more to determine (and set) the appropriate light level. • The ability to measure results, and the means to use that information to improve results. Simply having access to multiple control strategies does not necessarily make a sys- tem intelligent –sophisticated software is required in order to determine how those strategies should interact. It is important to look in-depth at a system’s capabilities, and how it logically makes decisions, in order to determine if it meets your needs. White Paper: 14 Strategies to Save up to 70% in Energy Costs Using the Latest in Warehouse Lighting...and More Daintree Networks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Wireless: As the number of end points in a building control system has proliferated – lights, various sensors, wall switches, remote controls, computers, plug load devices, and more – so has the complexity of reaching and communicat- ing with each of these devices. In order to effectively control a device, the central system must be able to communicate with it. Wired systems bridge this gap with dedicated control wiring (or specialized power-line control wiring), but the more devices in a system, the more complex and inflexible this becomes. Wireless networking is an effective solution, eliminating limitations of which devic- es can be controlled, where they can be placed, and so on. This is especially critical in order to realize the most advanced control strategies, and those that extend beyond lighting. Most wired systems, for example, were not designed to connect to plug load controllers or environmental sensors, so there is physically no way to add that capability. Wireless systems can connect to such devices easily, as long as they speak the same language. Open: As noted above, communications is a requirement of any control system – the system must be able to receive data from devices and issue commands to fixtures. But what “language” is used for these control messages? It can take many forms, though most frequently the communications language is proprietary, and created by the manufacturer of the control system. For example, a control manufac- turer could create a sensor, a ballast and a control panel, and write the language they use to communicate with each other. If a customer tried to use another vendor’s sensor with that panel, they would not be able to understand each other and would be unlikely to work together. Proprietary systems have limited the growth of new and innovative control strat- egies, because each vendor essentially starts from scratch in developing their own system, and has the added overhead of upkeep on their proprietary communica- tions protocol. This is changing with the introduction of “open” systems to the lighting control market, based on well-accepted industry standards. In an open system, a manufacturer chooses an existing communications language, and their products can communicate directly with other manufacturers’ products. There are many positive results of open systems – choice, trust, lower cost – but perhaps the most important is their impact on innovation. Unlike proprietary systems, a standards-based control system can use any standards-compliant device. When multiple companies develop products based on the same open industry standard, customers can take advantage of all their combined innovations. This is how lighting control systems have begun to take advantage of energy savings beyond lighting (for example, connecting to environmental sensors or wireless thermostats) and will define the future of how new integrated energy strategies will be developed. Daintree Networks, Inc. Daintree Networks, Inc. 5150 El Camino Real | Suite E-20 Los Altos, CA 94022 U.S.A. Phone: +1 (650) 965-3454 email: [email protected] www.daintree.net Copyright © Daintree Networks, 2014. ZigBee is a registered trademark of the ZigBee Alliance. 802.15.4 is a trademark of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Common Lighting Control Strategies Dimming: Enable fixtures to dim, for use in other strategies below Variable Occupancy Sensing: Adjust lights based on occupancy detection Up to 40% Scheduling: Dim and turn off lights according to a pre-set schedule Up to 40% Advanced Lighting Control Strategies Daylight Harvesting: Adjust electric light levels to take natural light into account, using photosensors Up to 20% Task Tuning: Reduce maximum light levels based on requirements for each space Up to 20% Demand Response: Reduce light levels at peak times based on automated signals from electric utilities Variable Personal Control: Enable individuals to set light levels to suit personal preferences Up to 10% Energy Management: Software for ongoing improvement in control settings and strategies Variable Combined Lighting Energy Cost Savings Up to 70% of Lighting Energy Costs