External columns and bollards provide localised pedestrian lighting for urban realm applications and can also serve as visual place-holders. Whilst often necessary for both security and wayfinding, the areas they serve can frequently be vacant for much of the evening and almost certainly during late night and the early morning hours. During those hours when spaces are unoccupied or infrequently used, energy is wasted on fully illuminated those spaces that actually only need significantly reduced lighting for the density and usage.
Occupancy Sensing Technology
The push to provide more sustainable lighting solutions goes far beyond the pure energy saving attributes of higher efficacy LED and other energy-efficient products. But often the main task of artificial lighting, i.e. to provide correct and appropriate visual environments to suit the task and situation, gets forgotten. The advent and design of controls too can often be purely for energy saving rather than designed to actually be advantageous to us or the environment and applied in a specific manner.
For external lighting poor controls and energy saving products have too often been installed to the detriment of users’ safety and wellbeing. But led by new legislation and guidance emanating from bodies such as the US Department of Energy and California Energy Commission, more emphasis is now being placed on applied controls to maximise energy savings whilst maintaining correct lighting suitable to occupation, traffic density, user task and, most importantly, applying common sense.
However, switching circuits off entirely on basic timers can be counter-productive if just one person needs light for safe passage or security systems and public cannot see into their surround.
Therefore, providing external energy efficient LED fixtures with inbuilt occupancy sensors, positioned and pre-programmed to either provide an addressable on-off or dimmed performance has become something which benefits both clients and public alike.
LIGMAN now offers the option of integral sensors to a growing range of our column and bollard portfolio. These microwave sensors with LIGMAN’s superior optics, can achieve spacings up to around 30m (90feet) between columns and even 20m (60feet) for our bollards and still provide full detection.Sensors can be provided for either On/Off or dimming control and available for group operation together with adjustable threshold and time-delay settingsfor optimising energy saving and helping reduce the impact on environmental light pollution.