At the core of smart buildings are the aims to improve comfort, safety, and productivity indoors. Operations such as heating, ventilation, lighting, and security systems can be automated and centralised. This affords building owners, managers, and occupants flexibility in managing their time and spaces, creating maximum comfort with minimum effort. When users incorporate LED lights into smart building lighting systems, they can make an even bigger impact on both environmental and personal levels.
What is a smart building?
Smart building systems
A smart building is an infrastructure that uses information technology to automate building operations and processes, such as heating, ventilation, lighting, sanitation, security, and other systems. This automation relies on third-party data collection and storage using both hard- and software, such as sensors, micro-chips, actuators, and cloud services.
In more advanced smart building systems, this control extends to elevators, water and power meters, and even access systems for buildings with more sophisticated security measures.
Smart building examples
As the name suggests, smart buildings are infrastructures that operate on a larger scale than your average house. These include educational institutions such as schools and universities, healthcare facilities such as hospitals and clinics, stadiums, high-rise commercial buildings, large office complexes, public libraries, and more.
The goal of smart buildings
Smart building systems are designed to increase building managers’ and owners’ convenience through centralising operations. This is very much needed, as the sizes and structures of these infrastructures are often too large and complex for users to monitor and control by manual means.
Central hospitals comprised of different wings may span several acres. University campuses are often dispersed around town, and large-scale commercial buildings are structurally dense, with hundreds of office spaces, networks, and systems crossing signals. If a building manager had to check all these systems separately, it would take far too long.
With centralised smart building systems, all aspects of the infrastructure can be accessed, monitored, and controlled from one location and on one device, such as a computer or a smartphone.
At its core, smart buildings increase productivity and improve comfort and safety, all at lower costs and with more sustainable solutions, such as integrating connected lighting systems using LED lights.
What are connected lighting systems?
Lighting is a vital part of our daily life indoors, and connected lighting refers to a system of light fixtures that are technologically integrated with sensors and connected to a network.
This setup allows users to gain control over their light fixtures from a centralised and convenient location, and the integrated network connection will enable them to gather and store data.
Integrating LEDs into connected lighting systems
Integrating LEDs is a simple way to enhance the quality of your entire lighting system.
LEDs have unique characteristics, such as their ability to be dimmed and change colours and hues. On top of that, their compact size and low heat output make it easy for users to arrange them in different configurations and placements without creating safety concerns.
Our Tracy® extendable spot light panels
Here at LED iBond, we focus on creating innovative products with these same goals in mind, and our products offer improvements in comfort, safety, and productivity for our users.
Our Tracy® spot light panels can be fitted with spot LEDs as well as third-party products such as USB ports. It can also act as an open platform for Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and data collected can be stored for analysis.
At only 6mm thick and providing electrical input for up to 50 metres per unit, Tracy® is perfect for those who favour sleek and multifunctional designs. The light panels can be controlled remotely from any Android or iOS smartphone. It can also be integrated with security systems already in place, offering building managers greater peace of mind.
The role of LED lighting systems in smart buildings
Thanks to the flexibility of connected LED lighting systems, they can be used in any smart building system and serve different functions.
Automatic light adjustments according to time of day
Integrated with sensors, our Tracy® panels can be regulated in brightness during the day to create the most comfortable working environment. This is particularly helpful in large study spaces that operate twenty-four hours a day, every day of the week, such as university libraries and study halls.
Automatic adjustments create an environment in which students and staff are less likely to get eye strain and migraines from too bright or dimmed lights, so they can conduct research and discuss their findings together in a more comfortable environment.
Self-monitoring spaces
IoT integration allows for third-party devices such as motion and sound sensors and actuators to work alongside light sources.
Lights can be set up to be turned on once a person enters a room and motion is detected. This way, lights do not have to be on when rooms are not in use, saving energy and money.
This automation is particularly helpful in facility management. Some large-scale facilities such as car washes and gas station forecourts, involve big machinery and potentially dangerous fuels. When they can self-monitor and operate on their own without human intervention, employees are not only safer, but they can also be delegated other tasks.
Full control in emergencies
Another advantage of connected lighting systems is the control building managers can gain over facility monitoring. In small, windowless spaces, such as office and hospital elevators, lights are crucial for daily operation, and light source burnout can cause significant disruptions.
With IoT integration, building managers will be able to oversee all daily lighting operations from one place. In the case of emergencies, they can be notified immediately and deploy the necessary help.
Benefits of LEDs over traditional solutions
Despite the benefits of connected LED lighting over traditional lighting solutions such as Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) and incandescent lights, some users may hesitate to integrate LEDs into their lighting systems, put off by their high initial price tag.
The average LED light bulb costs double and triple that of the average CFL and incandescent bulbs, respectively. However, many who take some time to examine the benefits of LEDs soon discover that due to their various benefits, LEDs are worthy investments as they are much more cost-efficient in the long run.
Long lifespan of LED lights
Firstly, LED lights last the longest out of their peers.
The average lifespan of LED lights is about 50,000 hours, which is almost 6 years of continuous use. This is a whopping 50 times the lifespan of the other two traditional lighting solutions.
With our patented heat technology here at LED iBond, we have managed to double this capacity, bringing our LED lifespan to 100,000 hours. This is over a decade of continuous use, and we achieve this while simultaneously maintaining a sleek and minimalist aesthetic thanks to the small size of LEDs themselves.
In all indoor spaces, users will not require illumination all the time. For example, employees in an office will only need lights on during their working hours, which is less than 12 hours a day. This means that in practice, LEDs can last even longer when integrated into smart office lighting systems.
Low replacement rates of LEDs
Naturally, the longer lifespans of LED lights directly translate to their lower replacement rates compared to other lighting solutions. This is a benefit for smart building managers who have to oversee the operations and regulations of all components within their lighting system, which can add up to monitoring the performance of hundreds of bulbs at a time.
If bulbs burned out too frequently, smart building managers and owners will incur significant replacement fees from hiring technicians to replace them. It will also create major disruptions in productivity.
Energy efficiency of LEDs
When one of the main goals of integrating smart building lighting systems is to increase productivity, it makes a lot of sense to switch to LEDs, which consume the least energy while producing the same brightness level as traditional lighting solutions.
The average LED bulb is 6 times more efficient than the average incandescent bulb, and it is also nearly 1.5 times more efficient than the average CFL bulb. This means that while all three bulbs can produce the same brightness level, the average LED bulb requires the least energy to do so and thus can help users save money and limit any negative environmental impact.
Get in touch
Technology-driven smart building lighting can greatly improve our personal and professional wellbeing by making our lives safer, more comfortable, and more productive.
For more information, please contact Sales on the button below. We look forward to talking to you.