kW Engineering | Sustainable Buildings & Energy Efficiency Consulting

James Donson

Key SkySpark Integration Tips for Lighting Controls to Identify and Maintain Energy Savings

New lighting systems today rely on LED luminaires and networked lighting control systems (NLCS). With both efficient lighting and control sequences that curtail lighting energy use at opportune moments, lighting energy use goes down precipitously. This combination of low energy use and increasingly complex controls makes manually monitoring lighting control systems labor intensive with limited

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Basic versus LED Light Meter. What’s the difference?

A question from a blog reader about my previous post on phone-based light meters asked what is the difference, if any, between a basic light meter and an LED light meter? I was a little surprised when my posts about these smart phone apps and purchasing a dedicated light meter gained the traction they did.

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How to Reduce Energy Waste with Hybrid Work Mixed Occupancy Schedules from COVID-19

As U.S. policy makers debate a widespread return to the office with continually falling COVID-19 rates, we’re seeing announcements in the news that big names are thinking about a hybrid work return. Google said they’re looking at about 60% of their employees working remote two days a week, while working in the office the other

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Is Ultraviolet Light Effective at Inactivating COVID-19 for a Healthy Workplace?

The importance of a healthy workplace in now a top priority as businesses seek to operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinics and hospitals around the world utilize ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens like tuberculosis (TB), which stills run rampant in parts of the world. UV light can also be effective at inactivating viruses

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The Pros and Cons of Power Over Ethernet Lighting with DC Microgrids

A client recently asked my opinion on power over ethernet (POE) and DC microgrids for their next building upgrade project. They received a hard sales pitch on POE lighting and controls and wanted some rational counterpoints. Here’s my two cents, after talking to a folks about POE lighting both at kW and out in the

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Your Next Lighting Project Will Have a Hefty Price Tag if Trade Troubles Prevail Thanks to Tariffs and Constraints on Rare-Earth Elements

As trade tensions continue to escalate between the United States and China, the lighting industry can’t help but be impacted. Most of the big brand lighting manufacturers headquartered in the United States manufacture vast swaths of their lighting products offshore. So it’s no surprise the domestically-imposed tariffs on lighting imports are sending shudders through the

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Designing Egress and Emergency Lighting: Planning for the Worst When Scoping Your Lighting Retrofit

Many lighting retrofit designs fail to fully consider egress and emergency lighting systems. These systems are usually required by state code and often superseded by local code or the requirements of the local authority having jurisdiction. Failure to provide adequate egress and emergency lighting controls can spell liability trouble in the event of an injury.

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Identify energy savings with a graph? Data visualization for portfolio lighting energy use says yes.

You can evaluate energy performance and target energy saving projects using graphics like in the case of one of our portfolio clients where we evaluated lighting control system performance looking at lighting power density (LPD) and energy use intensity (EUI). Data visualization is one of the easiest and fastest ways to compare energy use among

Identify energy savings with a graph? Data visualization for portfolio lighting energy use says yes. Read More »

Average at your own risk. The pitfalls and perils of average utility charges

Averages hide things, blending together the highs and the lows arriving at something in the middle. But the end result is a product that doesn’t accurately reflect the diversity of the whole which can be a BIG problem when it comes to estimating savings for an energy efficiency project. Great examples that avoid problematic averages

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