At the beginning of the new year, the changes faced by the lighting industry are becoming more and more obvious. Even high-level leaders are emphasizing that the world economic growth momentum is insufficient at the macro level, and unstable, uncertain, and unpredictable factors are increasing. How to explore growth potential is a realistic issue facing lighting companies. This year, the country will continue to increase efforts to achieve dual carbon targets and reduce energy consumption. For the lighting market, we need to carefully consider:
1. The new construction market continues to transform into the existing construction market
I remember a few years ago, I accompanied a group of real estate managers to Europe for an inspection and visited a German architectural design office. The person who received us was a Chinese designer who studied in Germany and stayed there after graduation. When asked how many new projects they designed in a year, the answer was single digits. Later, the person in charge of domestic real estate said privately that if he were in China, the projects he would receive would be dozens or even a hundred times more. In the past year, real estate development has stagnated, and the number of new project designs that many domestic design companies can receive has dropped sharply. On the contrary, some renovation projects of existing buildings have surfaced. In addition, urban renewal has gradually formed a trend, not to demolish existing buildings, but to re-plan and use existing buildings, providing lighting companies with new market opportunities.
2. The practice of simply replacing LED lamps in lighting energy conservation encounters bottlenecks
Energy-saving renovation of buildings is nothing new. A large number of energy-saving companies tried to enter the market through EMC solutions a few years ago. I had seen many energy-saving renovation plans at that time, and I found that in the lighting subsystem, it was often very simple to replace the traditional light source lamps with LED lamps. It is undeniable that such replacement could bring some energy-saving effects at the time, but the energy-saving potential of smart lighting was not explored. When the coverage of LED lamps reaches a certain level, energy-saving companies using this solution will encounter bottlenecks.
Now is the time for us to re-examine smart lighting energy conservation. As Lin Yan, vice president of Sanxiong Aurora, said in the New Year Outlook, the most impressive thing in 2023 is that smart lighting is undergoing positive changes, especially in the field of commercial lighting. Because smart lighting can bring convenience to management and operation and maintenance, it can significantly reduce Energy consumption and lighting usage costs, more and more users have accepted and even actively sought smart lighting solutions.
So, what kind of energy-saving effect can intelligent lighting systems bring? In fact, a large number of research reports have given evidence. In the "Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control (NLC) Systems with and without LLLC" research report published by the DesignLights Consortium in the United States, 194 buildings of various types were monitored throughout the year. These buildings all use intelligent lighting control systems, and the average energy saving effect in the lighting part can reach 49%. Among them, the most obvious energy saving effect is in the storage building, with an energy saving effect of 68%. In office-type buildings, the energy-saving effect can also reach 64%. This is not the energy saving effect brought about by replacing LED lamps, but the energy saving effect brought about by simply using the intelligent lighting control system.
It can be seen that the intelligent lighting control system can truly contribute to energy saving. How to use smart lighting control systems to save energy?
1. Do a good job in overall planning and focus on scenario-based applications. First of all, you cannot save energy for the sake of energy saving. Lighting affects our health and also reflects the aesthetic design of the space. We must make overall plans based on people's needs and behaviors. Secondly, different scenarios have different needs. Offices, warehousing, public spaces, classrooms, etc. have different needs for smart lighting. In addition, there are numerous lighting control communication protocols including wired and wireless, as well as supporting control hardware ecology. Be sure to adopt an appropriate control system based on project needs, project scale, supporting systems, etc. Finally, we must pay attention to the top-level management software and the interface protocols for connecting to other systems to prepare for future upgrades and expansions. If possible, it can be connected with the sunshade system, HVAC, building control system, etc. to achieve greater energy saving effects. In particular, HVAC accounts for the largest energy consumption in buildings.
2. Use appropriate control strategies. There are many choices for control methods/strategies corresponding to the functional requirements of smart lighting, such as:
The following are energy-saving strategies for intelligent lighting control systems given by the U.S. Energy Agency. You can refer to them for application:
3. Pay attention to data collection and application, do a good job in data monitoring, and protect data security.
How much energy can be consumed/saved? Just relying on estimates is not enough. It is recommended to use smart devices with metering, such as smart meters and smart circuit breakers. If the granularity is to reach each device, you can use drivers, sockets, switches, etc. with metering chips. Once the data is collected, effective analysis can be carried out on the management system, and energy-saving strategies can be readjusted for spaces and behaviors with high energy consumption to tap the potential for further energy saving. At the same time, attention should be paid to data security.
4. Provide calculations of input-output ratio to convince users
The initial deployment cost of an intelligent lighting control system is definitely higher than that of ordinary LED lamps. How to convince customers to use intelligent lighting control systems? Be sure to state the benefits that the overall solution brings to customers. At the same time, it can be analyzed from the perspective of total cost of ownership to calculate the initial installation cost, usage cost, maintenance cost, etc. For example, when we promoted smart T8 light tubes for garage renovation, we used the following table to conduct investment return analysis. In representative projects, the payback period can be as short as 7 months, saving hundreds of thousands of yuan in electricity bills every month. Help customers make clear judgments.
5. Pay attention to hidden service costs
When selling traditional LED lamps, agents usually provide basic logistics and installation costs. In contrast, providing intelligent lighting control systems has hidden service costs, whether it is pre-sales solutions, in-sales debugging, and after-sales maintenance. If these costs are not included in the calculation, it can easily lead to loss of profits, or even Losing money. Dealers who are new to smart lighting control systems often ignore this part of the calculation and directly quote low prices. In the end, not only do they not make a profit, but the control system is not used, and the real energy saving effect cannot be achieved. Finally, we would like to emphasize that energy conservation is only an important part of achieving the dual-carbon goal. To reduce carbon emissions, we must consider the entire product life cycle, including raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, use, waste recycling and other aspects. Of course, if you can't even save energy well, let alone achieve more ambitious goals. Intelligent lighting energy saving provides lighting companies with more market demand and more business opportunities, allowing us to be down-to-earth, make good products and solutions, and achieve growth.