Lighting is usually considered one of the easiest building systems to optimize for energy efficiency. The widespread adoption of LED technology, occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting and intelligent lighting controls has already significantly reduced lighting energy consumption.
However, I believe there is an interesting question worth exploring:
Can lighting systems go beyond energy efficiency and become an active carbon-management tool for buildings?
Most smart lighting systems respond to occupancy, daylight availability, illuminance requirements and time schedules. But what if the lighting system could also respond to the carbon intensity of the electricity being consumed?
For example, a building equipped with PV system could operate its lighting system differently depending on the availability of renewable electricity. During periods of high PV generation, the system could make greater use of available renewable energy while maintaining the required lighting levels, and during periods of low renewable generation or high grid carbon intensity, the system could automatically optimize lighting levels in areas where reductions would have minimal impact on occupants.
The objective would not be simply to reduce illuminance, but to optimize lighting levels while ensuring compliance with the applicable requirements for the space and maintaining appropriate visual comfort, safety and functionality.
This raises an interesting research question:
Could carbon-aware lighting controls contribute significantly to achieving net-zero carbon buildings, beyond the benefits already provided by LED technology and conventional lighting controls?
A further question is whether the carbon reduction achieved through intelligent lighting could be greater when the system is coordinated with other building systems such as HVAC, battery energy storage, EV charging and renewable generation.
I would be very interested to hear the views of engineers and lighting professionals:
Do you think carbon-aware lighting could become a meaningful component of future net-zero building strategies?
And are there existing projects, standards or research studies that have already investigated lighting control based on real-time grid carbon intensity or the availability of on-site renewable generation?
