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All You Need to Know About LEED and Smart Controls

Comments (0) LEED-certified municipal engineering, Municipal Engineering Services Company

LEED-certified municipal engineering solutions have become immensely popular in the last decade as more and more property owners lean toward LEED building design, incorporating “greener” approaches to lower energy consumption.

This includes using LEED smart controls, especially occupancy and daylight sensors. Here’s why using the two types of smart control systems can help lower your energy consumption.

Using Daylight Sensors to Lower Energy Consumption

Daylight sensors reduce the LED light output and incorporate natural lighting to maintain the existing level of brightness in a space. These smart sensors can effectively detect and utilize the sunlight available in an area, lowering the need for electrical consumption. This approach is known as daylight harvesting and is popularly implemented in building designs to minimize energy consumption and costs.

Daylight sensors are ideal for residential and commercial structures alike. Including these LEED smart sensors in your home design can help you reduce energy bills and make the most of natural lighting during the day. Similarly, daylight sensors can be included in commercial buildings with plenty of corridors and glass windows, helping business owners maximize daylight and save energy costs.

The sensors are also suited for the outdoor areas surrounding multi-structure complexes and commercial buildings, such as office spaces and parking lots. They continue to adjust to the natural lighting available during the day, lowering overall energy consumption.

Using Occupancy Sensors to Lower Energy Consumption

Occupancy sensors detect motion and presence. Unlike motion detectors that only identify movement, these LEED smart controls detect the occupancy of a space. In doing so, they automatically switch the lights on or off, ensuring electricity isn’t wasted.

 a hand stretched toward the sun

What sets these detectors apart is that they don’t switch off lights if there’s no movement. Thus, even if you’re stationary within a room, the detector will react to your presence and function accordingly. This makes them ideal for commercial buildings, especially office cubicles and other areas where movement may be minimal. Additionally, occupancy sensors can also be included in residential structures. You can add them to small spaces, such as storage closets, porches, and bathrooms.

They can be integrated with daylight sensors to further maximize energy efficiency, ensuring you don’t end up wasting electricity when nobody’s in the room/building corridor.

Our LEED-certified team at Larsen Engineers helps architectural firms, municipalities, and government agencies adopt green sustainable design for residential and commercial buildings. Reach out to our community planning, energy conservation, and sustainable site development consultants today for more details about smart control systems.   

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