Advanced lighting systems are a key element of modern-day commercial facilities. Lighting isn't just important for the creative industry. There's a raft of research about the benefits of lighting for workplace productivity and safety. Smart lighting systems can help building managers reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs while providing aesthetic flexibility for multi-use spaces. Also, the right lighting setup can add substantial value to a commercial property. With many available options, understanding today's most common new lighting systems for construction installation is essential for successful commercial construction projects.
Understanding Advanced Lighting Technology
Before exploring today's common lighting setups, it's important to understand the different types of lighting used: ambient/general, task, and accent lighting. A building designer will consider which spaces need which types of lighting before determining the types of lighting, lighting fixtures, setup, and other aspects of the lighting plan.
Ambient/general lighting offers a space the overall lighting people use to see and navigate. It may be a combination of natural and artificial light sources and is often adjustable to provide less light during the day and more at night. Accent lighting draws attention to an object or feature and is typically up to three times brighter than ambient/general lighting to provide effective contrast. Finally, task lighting is used to help people perform a specific task. For example, lighting affixed to the range hood over a stove gives people the light they need to cook effectively.
Light Types Used In Commercial Construction
Commercial and industrial construction projects may incorporate the following lighting types:
- Incandescent
- Halogen
- Fluorescent
- Induction
- Metal halide
- LED
Incandescent lighting offers warm tones and comes in a variety of sizes. They're also inexpensive to replace, but these lights must be replaced often because they're the least sturdy. They emit heat rather than light and so consume considerable energy. Also, they do not work naturally with smart lighting setups, requiring an adapter instead. Halogen lights are more energy efficient. Their lifespan is double that of incandescent lights and only use three-quarters of the energy. However, they are also more expensive and can, in certain circumstances, be a fire risk.
Fluorescent lighting improves upon the energy efficiency and lifespan of incandescent and halogen lights. Yet, unlike the former, fluorescent lighting cannot provide accurate colors. Their brightness also diminishes over time, necessitating replacement—especially in areas where they are used as a safety and security element. Induction lighting offers superior light quality and energy efficiency to fluorescent lights.
What about the downsides? They're not as luminous as other types, meaning more are needed to match the brightness of others. Their efficiency also declines with the temperature, making them more suitable for indoor, temperature-controlled environments. They also contain mercury, which can interfere with radio frequencies and pose a safety risk and environmental hazard under certain conditions. Metal halide can provide high-quality lighting. However, they must warm up whenever switched off and on and are not very energy-efficient.
LED lights are far more energy-efficient and long-lasting than other types. They're now second only1 to fluorescent lighting in commercial buildings. The U.S. Energy Department projects that their use will surpass all other lighting types in the next couple of decades.
Common Lighting Fixtures
Commercial projects will typically use different types of lighting fixtures, including:
- Bollards: Outdoor lighting solution used to illuminate pathways
- Chandeliers: Fixtures suspended from the ceiling that provide ambient lighting
- High Bay and Low Bay: Lighting solutions used for high-ceiling or low-ceiling spaces, like warehouses or stores, respectively.
- Pendant: Lighting fixtures that hang overhead to illuminate specific areas.
- Recessed: Compact ceiling-installed lights
- Track: Fixture with a track that contains multiple light heads
- Troffer: Rectangular fixture for fluorescent or LED lights in a modular ceiling grid
- Strip: Long strips of lights used for displaying objects or under overhanging surfaces
- Surface-mounted: Fixtures mounted directly into a wall or ceiling
- Wall sconces: Decorative light fixtures mounted to a wall, common in hallways
These are a few of the most common lighting fixtures. Some are designed specifically to operate outdoors, others in extreme temperatures. For example, one may find either T8 (a type of low-mercury fluorescent lighting) lamps or LED refrigeration lighting in the walk-in freezers or coolers that may be found in a restaurant facility.
Popular Lighting Setups
Today's commercial facilities include centralized lighting control systems. These systems allow facility managers to control light functions, such as:
- Switching on or off
- Dimming or brightening
- Color effects
- Timing
Lighting control systems may receive manual inputs from a facilities manager, but modern systems work automatically. A lighting system may be preprogrammed to switch lights on or off at particular times, activate when sensors detect motion, provide distinct types of lighting based on the type of day, and more.
A popular type of lighting control system is the smart or intelligent system. Using data continuously gathered from sensors, these systems determine the optimal lighting in each space and adjust lighting and power as necessary. These systems can drastically reduce energy consumption and save substantial sums. Many systems allow facility managers to easily control lighting throughout a property through a smartphone app.
Daylight harvesting is an increasingly popular lighting design approach in which facilities are designed to capture natural light to offset the quantity of electric lighting needed and the amount of energy consumed. These systems use photosensors to detect the amount of available daylight, and when enough is available, they can automatically dim or switch off electric light sources.
Creating Light System Designs
These advanced lighting systems integrate sophisticated controls and an abundance of fixtures, lights, light types, and sensors. All of these components must be accounted for in the initial design work, as well as the construction site markups, to ensure proper placement. Not only is this necessary to meet the job specifications, but these advanced lighting technologies also offer designers the capability to create specific design effects.
For example, some buildings incorporate human-centric lighting, which involves aligning lighting to the body's natural circadian rhythms. Throughout the day, these systems will mimic the progression of daylight. Warm and cool tones combine natural and artificial light sources throughout the day. Other popular lighting design trends include biophilic lighting, which combines lighting fixtures that mimic plant forms, colored lighting that resembles the Earth's natural palette, and accent lighting for organic elements. Some designers incorporate wellness-oriented lighting into their buildings, which involves lighting designs that reduce glare and blue light while increasing lighting that promotes wellness.
In each of these cases, the lighting plans must be precise. Lighting types, fixtures, and other elements are carefully selected to create specific design effects. Sensors are placed in precise locations to capture the data necessary to inform the control system how and when to modulate the lights. These systems can become extraordinarily complex and require precision electrical engineering work to implement successfully.
Integrating Lighting Systems Onto Construction Sites
Many commercial construction projects may incorporate most of the above lighting types and fixtures. Frequently, at the stage when it's time for the field team to begin the MEP markups, errors occur. Electrical markings for lines and fixtures must be precise. However, it can be difficult to translate 2D CAD designs to 3D spaces. A single omitted detail can result in costly and lengthy remediation. Moreover, electricians must maintain a high level of coordination with the rest of the field team to ensure no interference from other elements, like drywall or plumbing.
The level of coordination necessary to ensure precise markups can be quite time-consuming. Moreover, with the need for precision so acute, manual approaches are often not the best option for integrating advanced lighting systems into electrical construction work. Many firms have successfully integrated industrial robots into the process, enabling them to mark up sites more accurately and quickly than before. For example, HP SitePrint , a portable mobile robot, takes CAD files and prints markups on a construction site with high accuracy. HP SitePrint operates autonomously , can avoid obstacles, and prints on any site surface. Its wireless, cloud-based operating system allows field teams to collaborate in real time as needed.
Why Electrical Engineers Need to Upskill in Advanced Lighting Systems
Some industrial robots may provide great value for new lighting systems for construction installation processes. But that does not mean less work for electrical engineers—quite the contrary. With the ever-increasing demand for advanced lighting systems, the role of the electrical engineer is more critical than ever before. Electrical engineers will need to oversee the work of the robots while ensuring that the lighting plans and designs have the right technical specifications for the site. They must coordinate with field teams and handle impromptu design changes as they come. And they must also handle tasks that industrial robots simply cannot at this point.
Still, new lighting systems for construction installation present an opportunity for upskilling, not because of industrial robots. With the advent of smart lighting systems and the abundance of lighting options, architects and designers have more options than ever. Electrical engineers must keep abreast of innovative lighting technologies and new design trends to accommodate increasingly diverse technical requirements in commercial buildings.
Addressing Regulatory Compliance
Part of the growing demand for advanced lighting systems involves evolving regulations and expectations concerning climate change. By reducing overall energy consumption, facility managers and owners can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and help combat climate change. Governments worldwide are taking stricter measures to curb GHGs, with many states, such as California, following suit. Implementing advanced lighting control measures and complementary strategies like daylight harvesting now provides facility managers with a greater ability to control their energy consumption. Even if facility managers do not significantly reduce their usage now, installing advanced lighting systems serves to futureproof their properties against eventual regulation.
Integrating Advanced Lighting Systems Into Electrical Construction
While there are clear benefits to integrating advanced lighting systems into electrical construction, implementation can be complex and costly. Precision is key, and coordination is paramount. Yet, when many construction companies are dealing with workforce shortages, getting the markup process completed on time manually can be a challenge. With today's new lighting systems for construction, installation must be performed flawlessly, as a single misplaced smart panel can be a major setback.
Given the critical nature of MEP markups, your company can't afford mistakes. Integrating robots like HP SitePrint can provide your team with the accurate MEP markups they need and cut down on time-consuming field coordination. Contact us today to learn more.
Selected for you
How robotics in construction are helping to create more precise execution
The cost-saving benefits of using site print robots for construction layouts
The advantages of using site printing robots for complex construction layout projects
Contact us
Talk with an expert
Contact us to get pricing information and to take par in the HP SitePrint Early Access Program.
Stay informed
Sign up to stay informed on the evolution of HP SitePrint and an entire industry.