Intelligent Lighting: Smart Lights Do More Than Save Electricity

Imagine such a scene: when entering a room, the sensors in the room can automatically arrange reasonable lighting and temperature control according to the number of people in the room and the sunshine; the use of each room can be directly checked through the mobile phone and the meeting room can be changed. It is no longer difficult; people in the building can even manipulate the nearby lights and air conditioners through the mobile phone, while the building manager can control the lighting in each corner in real time.

This scenario is not illusory. Building on smart building technology, buildings can become "smart" and save a lot of energy - extreme savings in energy consumption for buildings with tens of thousands of square meters of floor space and capacity for thousands of people. Important — On the one hand, the benefits of lower energy consumption to the environment are self-evident, and companies are also happy to use it as an example of spreading a positive image; on the other hand, even if calculating the economic account, a building is consumed annually in lighting. The value of electricity can reach millions of dollars. The systematic energy-saving at the building level is obviously different from the “turn off lights” of ordinary households. For example, through a series of smart energy-saving measures, the Microsoft Shanghai headquarters with an area of ​​66,000 square meters can save water and electricity costs of 660,000 US dollars per year.

A major bottleneck that hinders the development of smart buildings is the high cost - the ability to arbitrarily control a single light means a more complex control system, and placing sensors with network transmission capabilities in each room will also result in an extremely high construction cost.

"Edge", the new Deloitte office building in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a "smart" building as described above. This building, which was completed in early 2014, has been awarded the “Outstanding Design” certification by the British BREEAM Green Building Standard. Compared with other smart buildings, the Deloitte building has a significant reduction in construction costs because the “wisdom” of the Deloitte building comes from a clever light bulb. In addition to lighting, there are a variety of sensors installed inside the light fixture to sense the room. The temperature, sunshine, and even the number of people in the room and activities. This allows the building manager to adjust the temperature and lighting according to the conditions of each room to save energy.

Philips is the most creative player in the lighting field. Previously, they developed a "HUE" lighting system that is suitable for home use. Home users can use the mobile phone program and wireless network to send instructions to the home's light bulb to adjust the brightness and color. In the Deloitte building, every light can also be connected to a data network. Eric Rondolat, global CEO of Philips Lighting, believes that it is a thing of the past to simply use the Internet for lighting. "By integrating intelligence into LED lighting, we can create a digital lighting point that connects with space, place and people."

Shiny network cable

The secret of the Deloitte building is that the lighting it uses is not connected to the power supply line but is connected via a network cable. Everyday, everywhere, the network cable itself can also carry power. This kind of power supply called "Power over Ethernet (POE)" can provide power for IP telephones, network cameras and other devices.

But the power that Ethernet can offer is quite limited. For a long period of time, the POE power supply cannot exceed 30 watts. For traditional lighting, 30 watts is obviously not enough. But the rise of LED lighting makes this possible. Although the cost is higher than traditional lighting technology, LED is rapidly becoming the new darling of the lighting market.

Compared with the existing lighting technology, using LED lighting can reduce energy consumption by more than 70%, which means that low-power POE can also provide power for LED lighting. “We do not generate electricity via Ethernet, but use the standard technology of voice transmission using IP telephony. Through innovative utilization, the lighting efficiency is now high, so long as a simple line can meet the power demand.” Philips Professional Lighting Solutions Project CEO Amelia Huntington introduced.

Hongan Li told reporters that in the first quarter of this year, the revenue ratio of LED business has reached 33% of the entire business, and it is expected that in 2015, this figure will reach 50%. The Philips Lighting Division spends 5% of its revenue on research and development, and most of the funding has been spent on smart lighting.

Being able to connect the lamps directly with a network cable will undoubtedly reduce a great deal of costs. The cost of laying a lighting supply line can be saved. The lighting line is directly integrated with the IT system of the building. In the Deloitte building, wiring costs are saved by 50% through this method.

For a 40,000-square-meter building that can accommodate 1,800 people working at the same time, this means that the installation work is more convenient, and installing it directly on the network cable allows the luminaires to immediately have a separate IP address—every light is equivalent. On a computer and connect directly to the network. “In this way, the luminaires will become an 'all-in-one connected' device that will be integrated into the building’s data control system. Each light can be independently identified, identified, and monitored and manipulated in real time.” Philips Lighting Greater China Advanced Yu Yongtao, marketing director, told reporters.