How EcoXpert Companies are Pioneering the LED Lighting Revolution

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The Light Emitting Diode (LED) revolution, coupled with EcoStruxure™ technology and its IoT backbone, is one of the most powerful game changers for Schneider Electric’s Light & Room Control EcoXpert™ partners, enabling them to deliver innovation at every level to their customers. It’s an exciting time, offering exciting opportunities to our customers.

While LED lighting technology opens so many new areas, it also raises new issues that we may not have considered before. This is true, especially in advanced home automation, where lighting-knowledge consultants are less likely to be involved than they would be in commercial building automation. This drives the need to develop real educational and advising capabilities, to help prevent customers from inadvertently entering technology traps … or … just to advise on lighting complexity and reinforce the endless new possibilities that LED’s offer.

We have become more familiar with color temperatures; warmer ones are for a cozy atmosphere, while colder ones are for more activity-oriented environments. However, it is easy and useful to dive a bit deeper into accurate color temperature ranges, per their activities (as shown here).

Additionally, a broader scope of color choices brings opportunities to create highly-customized interior atmospheres, transforming the light substance itself into décor. However, when referencing CRI (Color Rendering Index), we must ask ourselves if illuminated objects and surfaces change perception.

For example, with a 0-100 value range, CRI indicates a colorful and natural perception the closer to 100 it gets, while low CRI rates mitigate color shades. This changes the perception and reality of what is seemingly a good idea to enhance interior design; instead it yields a plain result if implementing poor CRI light sources

Even more complex to address is the glare effect. While the Color Rendering Index is an easy to find – and understand – lighting source, the UGR (Unified Glare Rating) calculation requires minimum understanding of lighting design to properly interpret it (as explained in the calculation method described in CIE 117-1995 technical report). Another great source, offering an easier understanding, can be found in this presentation by Light/Space/Design. Covering a 10-30 value range, this index provided by manufacturer catalogs, must be understood in very standardized conditions such as room size, luminaires and occupants positioning, as well as basic lighting. When taken out of the standard conditions (e.g., squared symmetric rooms, typical luminaire positioning and ground/wall/ceiling reflection coefficients), a relevant UGR calculation should require manual calculations based on a dedicated data table or a computer-aided calculation.

Using the chart below, let us understand how different UGR ranges fit with different activities; the higher value, the higher the glare effect.

EcoXpert companies, who are trained and certified by Schneider Electric, are at the forefront of lighting control applications more than they’ve ever been before, bringing value and efficiency to their customers. Not only can they advise, specify or check the relevancy of selected light bulbs or luminaries, they ensure that solutions are properly implemented for optimized operation. In this new LED lighting world, EcoXperts will be the very technology providers to choose for installation of LED luminaries and dimming or DALI control devices.

How do you ensure optimization in the world of LED lighting technology? Tell me below and let’s discuss your tactics.

Learn more about the EcoStruxure™ technology and its IoT backbone.