Buildings End-Use Energy Efficiency Lighting Research
Lighting consumes a significant portion of energy in California's residential and commercial buildings. As of 2010, residential lighting consumes, on average, about 22% of a household's electricity use, and 35% of a commercial building's total electricity use. There is great potential to reduce energy use in these sectors and provide an improved visual environment by including a combination of best-practice design strategies, efficient sources, and smart controls in both new construction and retrofit projects. PIER lighting research strives to find these innovative strategies, systems, and technologies to break down the barriers to implementation.
PIER researchers team with manufacturers, universities, utilities, government agencies, and private/public companies to develop, demonstrate, and commercialize products and systems for both commercial and residential applications. Key areas of focus are:
- Demand response systems.
- Integrated advanced lighting and control systems.
- Solid-state lighting products.
California Lighting Technology Center
The mission of the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) is to stimulate, facilitate, and accelerate the development and commercialization of energy-efficient lighting and daylighting technologies. This is accomplished through facilitating technology development and demonstrations, as well as offering outreach and education activities in partnership with utilities, lighting manufacturers, end users, builders, designers, researchers, academicians and governmental agencies.
The concept of CLTC was developed through a collaborative effort between UC Davis, the California Energy Commission, the US Department of Energy and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association to advance energy-efficient lighting and daylighting technologies. CLTC research is guided with input from key industry stakeholders (over 50) including California utilities, lighting manufacturers, and other lighting professionals.
Examples of PIER/CLTC research projects include:
- High-efficiency bi-level light fixtures for corridors.
- High efficacy exterior/interior lighting with advanced controls.
- Demand-responsive ambient lighting.
- Direct-current-powered grid-based solid state lighting systems.
- Advanced controls for skylights.
- Emerging daylight harvesting technologies.
- University-level training and best practices manuals for design professionals, contractors, and industry.