Context-Aware Dynamic Lighting

Team

Harrison Hall and Maria Thompson (Osram Sylvania)

Project Brief

Buildings consume about three-quarters of US electricity, and lighting accounts for about one-third of typical office-building energy use. Much of this is wasted by illuminating unoccupied spaces or those with sufficient natural light. We are deploying tiny, low-cost, easily installed wireless sensors to control tunable LED luminaires.

The control system will turn off, dim, or tune the lighting to more energy-efficient spectra in response to the location, activities, and paths of the occupants. It will also respond to the daylight entering the space. An interface will allow occupants to define activities and preferences for their personal lighting. Energy savings may approach 40% without the occupants being aware of, or disturbed by, changes in lighting. (A House_n Research Consortium project funded by Siemens and the MIT Energy Initiative)