Terry Mocherniak - Owners and managers combat high energy costs with innovations in lighting control and energy management technology

Electricity prices in N.Y. have generally stayed 40% or more above the national level during the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. With that in mind and an electric bill in hand, many commercial property owners and facility managers are working to reign in their building's energy use, more than 38% of which is for lighting. Luckily, innovations in lighting control technology are enabling them to do just that. Today's addressable lighting control systems utilize six key energy-management strategies. Those include daylight harvesting, occupancy sensors, personal software-based controls, task tuning, smart-time scheduling, and variable load shedding. While some of these strategies have been used independently for some time, the ability of advanced systems to seamlessly integrate and deploy them on a facility-wide basis is yielding far greater energy savings. One such solution is Encelium Technologies' Energy Control System (ECS), the market's leading addressable dimming system for commercial buildings designed for energy management. In N.Y.C., Encelium partnered with Goshow Architects when this architectural firm relocated to new office space. Goshow's main goal was to design a sustainable, energy-efficient environment with open layouts and natural light. Encelium worked with Goshow to personalize its lighting control system and realize lighting energy consumption reductions of 66%. For owners and managers, the first step toward gaining control of lighting energy use and expenditures is to have a vendor complete a lighting audit. Through an audit, the vendor can identify the "low-hanging" fruit in terms of efficiency and detail how a pilot program on strategic areas would demonstrate potential energy savings and reinforce the findings of the audit. Advanced lighting control systems also aid in meeting N.Y.C.'s goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by 30% by the year 2030. ECS also meets or exceeds today's sustainable requirements for new and existing properties including Title 24, ASHRAE 90.1, EPACT and other local energy codes. In addition, it contributes between 12 to 18 points, depending on the application, toward LEED certification. Encelium's ECS offers the ability to achieve unprecedented energy savings at minimum cost while improving light quality, workspace ergonomics, and flexibility. It can also share data and seamlessly integrate with other building automation and energy management systems. Encelium recently introduced its Polaris 3D, the first software application of its kind that offers owners and managers a single 360°, three-dimensional navigation in a multi-floor view. Terry Mocherniak is the chief operating officer of Encelium Technologies, Teaneck, N.J.