Eco-Friendly and Smart Warehouse Lighting
LED Lighting
The rule of thumb for halogen and fluorescent lights is it cost $1.00 per square foot to light a building.
A 50,000 square foot facility will cost $100,000 annually.
Transitioning to LED lights can cut that cost down by 50% and even up to 95%. This reduction of energy consumption is the most important step in making any warehouse environmentally friendly. Check out our previous blog for more information on how your warehouse can be retrofitted with LED.
Dimmers and Lighting Sensors
Warehouses are large facilities where proper lighting is imperative for safety, but leaving lights on in unused area will leave a huge hole in your pocket.
By installing commercial dimmers and lighting sensors, lights in unused areas can be dimmed or turned off entirely when not in use. Combine this technology with the LED’s unique ability to turn on and off in an instant for an electricity saving hack. With this connection, areas will be illuminated when someone enters and then dimmed or turned off after a certain period of time. The motion sensors need to be placed in very strategic locations to ensure their proper function.
This situation would not be possible with the typical metal halide or fluorescent fixtures. Metal Halide lights can take anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes to reach 90% of their full output, also known as the warm-up time. Fluorescents warm up a bit faster, from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, but tend to produce an annoying flicker as they die.
Why Dimmers?
Why do I need a dimmer if I can just turn the lights on and off? The answer is, running lights at either 0 or 100% is very inefficient and hard on the bulbs. The benefits of a dimmer include:
- Controlled Lighting – Light intensity can be increased and decreased to your personal preferences.
- Energy Efficient – Dimming a light reduces its lumen and energy output, saving money and the environment at the same time.
- Increased Bulb Life – Dimmers reduce the amount of voltage being sent to the bulb, in turn, the bulbs stress can be minimized, and life increased.
Networked Lighting With Z-Wave
Take it to the next level with a Z-Wave control hub, a mesh network device that allows the lights to be controlled from anywhere without the need of a coordinating node. Z-Wave communicates in a sub-1-GHz band, making it is impervious to interference from Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies. Networked lighting allows quick and easy communication between all light fixtures.
The Z-Wave is state-of-the-art technology designed specifically for control, monitoring, and status operations of warehouse lighting. Lighting performance data can be recorded and utilized to develop the optimal lighting strategy for your facility. All this can be done from the convenience of any smartphone using their app. Better yet with Z-Wave, networked lighting can be controlled from anywhere. Pair with other Z-Wave compatible devices to build the most efficient ‘Smart’ warehouse.
Adopt these changes and your facility will be at the forefront of environmental awareness and sustainability. Gone are the days of wasteful energy consumption, usher in the new green tech era with HomElectrical today!
Recommended Reading
Retrofit your warehouse light fixtures with LED's to increase the quality of your light and save energy and money. You can choose to either retrofit the fixture or replace it entirely.
Dimmers require compatible bulbs that reach a certain load level or power level in order to work. Read our guide to help you choose which bulb and dimmer you need.
HID and LED lights sees more and more use as energy efficient replacements for CFL and halogen bulbs, but which of the two saves the most energy? Learn about the two types of bulbs and the similarities and differences between them.
Z-wave and Zigbee wirelessly allow smart home devices to communicate with one another, but differences exist between the two networks. Both devices use a mesh network to connect devices, but Zigbee allows more devices while Z-wave has more range.
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