AutomatedBuildings.com Review - Takeaways LIGHTFAIR International 2016

Just returned from San Diego and LIGHTFAIR International 2016. Where light, technology and design converged to reveal new solutions, new knowledge and new discoveries. All at the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference.

If you think our HVAC/BACnet centric approach to automating buildings is presently a blur you need to see the radical changes in the world of large building lighting. Their blur is occurring faster and in color and comes with powerful energy saving new technology. LEDs replace most conventional types of lighting.

This new LED fabric for building lighting allows incredible new efficiency with dimming and color control of light while providing a significant shift to low voltage DC power and amazing control from the edge or building central or the cloud.

There is more to light than meets the eye — a lot more, in fact. While light enables us to see our world in vivid color and stunning detail, we have learned that light also regulates many biological responses in people which are not associated with our sense of sight, including an 'internal clock' in our bodies that makes us alert during the day and sleepy at night. The daily changes in our physical, mental and behavioral states that respond to a light-and-dark cycle is commonly known as our circadian rhythm. Just as a sunflower faces and tracks the sun to maximize the amount of sunshine it receives, historically people have always planned their lives around the availability of daylight. In the absence of man-made light sources, people rose with the dawn and went to sleep in the dark: when the sun went down and the campfire was reduced to ashes, the moon and stars provided our only light. Light around us signaled to our bodies when it was time to be active, and when it was time to rest. It was black and white. Light kept our daily lives in harmony with local time. This harmony is referred to as "entrainment": an entrained circadian system is aligned with the natural light/dark cycle of the solar day.

For demonstration I chose this company, but the floor of LFI was covered with demos on control of their powerful new fabric LED which allows art to be applied to buildings for better interfacing with the client.

I will write more but need now to get our May issue online and there is enough information here for a new magazine.

One booth at Light Fair that brought clarity to the colorful blur that was on the floor displayed a completely new DC 24 volt ceiling grid for our buildings done by http://www.emergealliance.org/. An open industry association leading the rapid adoption of safe DC power distribution in commercial buildings through the development of EMerge Alliance standards.

Some head shake concepts here which are closer than you think. Imagine connection to the Tesla DC grid battery and you are starting to see the future.

Had a great chat with Brian Patterson, President, EMerge Alliance. Brian and I have been talking for years but this demo was the closest I have seen to the concept complete. They have sites operating. I loved when he called the DC ceiling grid the collection grid as well as the connection grid as well as the distribution grid. DC is so powerful; Edison was right, Westinghouse was wrong. Can you imagine a world without the ugly electrical grid and its polluting politics, a world where everyone was off grid? Can you imagine how far we would be now if Edison had invented the LED and PV cells......big smile?

The ceiling had a clip system which allowed lights to be added and powered from the DC ceiling grid. Other devices like cameras, occupancy detection, WiFi, VAV boxes power and control etc. No hard wiring required, all completely retrofit-able above the ceiling by the device installer. Even a connection to an AC power supply can be added to DC grid.

I am over whelmed by how LED will not only change the lighting industry but our industry as well. Keep posted.

How Advanced IoT Systems Automate Commercial Buildings From the Direct Digital Control technology revolution of the 1980s to the BACnet movement, the open Internet, and now finally the move towards buildings as connected digital platforms powered by sensor technologies from the Internet of Things. - Morgan Lang, SWEENEY, Strategic Marketing & Public Relations

Plug-and-Play LED Lighting and Control Systems We saw an opportunity to leverage the LED lamp by integrating sensors and controls to deliver a simpler plug-and-play control system that provided comprehensive building intelligence. - Tom Quinn, Lunera

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