Time to Be “Smart” About Lighting Solutions

In the past several decades, the lighting industry has come a long way, going from incandescent and fluorescent lights to HIDs and LEDs. The 21st century has brought us a new approach to lighting – smart operation.

The power of smart lighting solutions is hard to underestimate. They allow you to save time, money, and effort while taking care of the environment.

IoT and Lighting

IoT (Internet of Things) is a network of devices that collect data from integrated sensors. Then special software processes the data to offer automated solutions to the users.

What does all that have to do with lighting?

1. Smart Light Switches

These switches work as regular switches do, but you can also control them remotely. Meaning, you can turn lights off and on whenever you are not in the building by using an app on your smartphone. You can also set up a schedule according to which the lights will go on throughout the day.

Coupled with motion sensors, these light switches can turn on and off when someone enters or leaves a facility.

2. Smart Bulbs

A smart dimmable bulb can dim without you having to install a dimmer switch. You can control the dimming remotely through an app.

Some of these bulbs can also change color and even play music. We’ll tell you why this seemingly useless feature may be important for a commercial facility later in the article.

Why Should You Consider Smart Lighting Solutions?

Changing a light bulb seems easier and cheaper than investing in an IoT-enabled lighting source. However, with time, you can see an impressive ROI.

  • Heightened Security – the ability to manipulate lights remotely can help you ward unwanted guests off your property. This is when the music-playing feature can come in handy.
  • Lower energy bills – remote operation and scheduling options allow you to reduce energy bills tremendously. An LED energy-star certified smart bulb consumes up to 90% less energy than a regular light bulb.
  • Saved money – LED smart lights can work up to 50,000 hours while an average light bulb can’t last longer than 2,000 hours.
  • Impressive convenience – the ability to control when and how your lights work remotely is highly convenient. For example, you can reduce the chances of workplace accidents by regulating the bulb’s brightness at the right time.

Lighting systems are a perfect tool for reaping key benefits of the IoT progress. They are already integrated all over any facility, be it a warehouse or a department store. When fitted with the right equipment, they can collect the necessary information and offer numerous benefits.

Stay on Top of the Latest Technologies with Smart Lighting Solutions

Millions of property owners have made the first steps to making their buildings smart by installing smart lighting solutions. In a few years, the trend is likely to turn into a standard.

Contact us today for more information about smart lighting solutions.

Four ways to achieve versatile hotel lighting

As competition in the hotel industry become stiffer by the day, it is important for you as a hotel owner to make sure that your star ratings impress your prospective guests. One area that can whittle down or shoot up your hotel rating is how bright or dark your rooms, corridors, and public spaces are. To make sure that your hotel lighting is perfect, we have put down four ideas that will help your hotel become brighter and warmer.      

1.    Work with a light planner

  Most hotel developers assume that electrical engineers are the sole experts with whom we should trust with lighting. With respect to electrical engineers, they often don’t think much about style, ambiance, art, and glamor. Very good lighting is the handiwork of light planners. They know how that white satin sheet needs to be lit up. With a lighting planner, sockets are better placed, and public spaces are well taken care of. So, with a light planner, you will give your guests a great first impression.   

2.    Apply Versatile lighting 

  We used to have a traditional format in hotel arrangement where the lobby, bar, restaurant, and check-in were kept separate from each other. Everything is now free-flowing. Many things can take place in the same room. For example, the same room may be used for breakfast in the morning and then used for dinner in the evening. It means that lighting in the same space needs to be versatile. Good lighting will cater for cool lighting in the morning while making sure that dinner is served under warm, cozier lighting.  

3.    Maintain your concept

When guests walk into your hotel, the property needs to have a wow effect! The place needs to stand out. Now, you might do so much thinking that you are standing out. But what you are doing is making your lighting look out of place. For example, lamps work well in a lobby when you want to highlight decorative and architectural aspects. What are we saying? Lighting should be used to reinforce the property theme.   

4.    Invest in quality

  Come to think of it, a hotel like yours is going to have a lot of guests. When there is an event in town, you’re going to turn away some guests. Because of this human traffic, you need quality. You need quality bulbs, switches, and other fittings associated with lighting. If you are going to use lamps and stands, they have to survive knocks when they topple. At the end of the day, you don’t want bulbs as an expenditure every year.   If you would like to get an experienced team in light planning, contact us.

3 Ways to Improve Customer Experience in a Grocery Store with LEDs

The best way to make sure that your grocery store attracts more customers is to put yourself in their place. What do you think customers are looking for when they come to a store? Of course, they want high-quality products at a reasonable price. But they are also looking for fresh products and products that are displayed properly. The display of the product plays a large role in whether or not it’s going to sell well. And the lighting provided to view these displays is even more important because, without it, the customer won’t be able to make out very much. So here are some reasons why LEDs are the perfect choice to improve your grocery store lighting:

  1. LEDs Are Bright: In a grocery store, you don’t need mood lighting. You need lighting which is bright and which makes it easy for the customer to make out what they’re looking at. Plus, it should also be bright enough to read the labels on products. Fortunately, LED lights are quite bright and can increase the quality of the customer’s shopping experience.
  2. LEDs Are Easy on the Eyes: Even though it’s necessary for a customer to be able to see everything clearly, they don’t want something that’s going to hurt their eyes. Unfortunately, incandescent and fluorescent lights, when made very bright, can be quite harsh on the eyes, thus discouraging customers from making their purchases. LEDs, on the other hand, mimic natural daylight, so they are easier on the eyes. And this will encourage a customer to keep shopping.
  3. LEDs Are Long-Lasting: A grocery store is going to need lighting for at least 12 hours a day. Some grocery stores remain open 24 hours a day. So they need reliable lighting. If you use incandescent or fluorescent lights, you may find yourself changing the lights every so often. If you get LEDs instead, you can just put them into the lighting fixtures and forget about them for a few years! Save your staff the time they will have to spend replacing lights and save yourself some money in the process.

Contact us for more great tips to improve grocery store lighting with LEDs.

Stand Out In The Hospitality Industry With LED Lighting

LED lighting continues to be the popular choice over fluorescent light bulbs and incandescent light bulbs. It is not a surprise that LED lighting has grown in popularity because LED light bulbs can last up to fifty times longer than other light bulbs.

LED lighting is not just used in private locations like homes and cars, but they are also used in a variety of business industries, including the hospitality industry. In hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry, there continues to be a need to conserve energy and create an overall comfortable environment. 

There are many reasons why more hotels should bring more LEDs to their property, including the following:

Savings

Since LED light bulbs can last longer than other light bulbs, your hotel will not have to worry about constantly replacing light bulbs. Although you will pay more for an LED light bulb up front, you will quickly recover the cost due to how long the bulbs will last. An LED light bulb will not use the same amount of energy that its counterparts use, and this means you will save a significant amount of money when it comes to energy savings. When you use LEDs, you will be able to reduce your costs because you will not have to constantly worry about costs related to repair and maintenance.

More Design Options

Since you will not have to worry about replacing light bulbs often, this will allow you to have more options when it comes to placing your light bulbs in places that may be hard to reach. You will have more options to incorporate different looks into your hotel interior. You can place LED bulbs in places that you may not have used the traditional bulbs because you will not have to worry about replacing the LED bulbs as often.

They Are Eco-Friendly

You may be able to attract more hotel guests by becoming more energy-efficient and eco-friendly. More consumers are supporting businesses that are eco-friendly. You can reduce the amount of energy your hotel uses by using LED lighting. 

Are you ready to help your hotel stand out when it comes to your operations, style, and eco-friendliness?

How LED’s Can Improve Retail Store Displays and Fitting Room Experiences

If you’re running a retail store, your main aim is to display your products in as attractive a way as possible so that people will want to buy them. It’s important that people should be able to see the products clearly, including their exact color, shape and size.

Plus, if you’re running a clothing store, you’ll also need lighting in your fitting rooms which will give the customer an accurate idea of how that product looks. Fitting room lighting tends to be notoriously bad. However, if you get LED lighting throughout the store, many of these issues can be resolved.

LED’s Will Improve Your Display

When you’re displaying your products, you want them to be seen in an attractive light (literally and metaphorically). Harsh fluorescent lighting isn’t going to do the trick. Instead, if you use LED lights, you’ll find that they cast a softer glow on the products, which is especially important if you’re selling clothes.

LED’s are bright enough to make sure that everything is visible in your store. But they also mimic daylight which means that people will be able to see everything the way it would look outdoors during the day. This can help customers decide what they want to buy. Plus, it generally makes products look more attractive.

LED’s Will Improve Fitting Room Experiences

Every woman has had the experience of going into a fitting room with a number of clothes which looked good on the rack. However, the fitting room lighting is so harsh that she becomes overcritical about her body rather than focusing on how the clothes look on her. The result is that she leaves without buying anything.

LED’s, which mimic daylight, can give her a more accurate idea of how she looks rather than highlighting any so-called defects. This will make the experience of trying clothes more enjoyable for your customer and since she will end up buying something, it will be more profitable for you as well.

Get Your Hospital Ready for the Future of LEDs Now

LEDs hit the lighting world by storm, and there are several good reasons for that. Not only are they energy-efficient and produce less heat, but they’re also customizable. Everything from dimness to color and direction can be programmed into LEDs. But while that makes LEDs a smart bet for new hospital constructions, it used to be another story for retrofits. Here are three reasons why your administration should make switching to LEDs a priority:

1. The current infrastructure will support future bulbs.

Early adoption of technology is always risky. Switching to the last data storage medium or buying the latest devices can be expensive or an investment in a fleeting trend. But LEDs are here to stay, and their current support systems are built to last. Whether you want to start retrofitting your hospital in sections or you want to overhaul the whole property, switching to LEDs is a safe bet.

2. Dimmable, programmable bulbs help people do their jobs.

LEDs in hospitals don’t just have the general benefits like in other commercial settings. They also have specific benefits for your employees and your patients. You can automatically program LEDs to duplicate daylight with bright white light so employees on the night shift are more alert. You can also add dimmable bulbs to waiting rooms and patient rooms. Even color-changing bulbs are being studied for their positive impacts on people’s healing rates.

3. Save on variable expenses.

Hospitals cost a lot of money to run. You have to keep the lights on 24/7, and even a single hospital room has a lot of specific lighting requirements. But LED bulbs will cut down on electrical costs. Because they have long lifespans, you also save on replacement bulbs, or diodes, over the years.

Contact us at Relumination to get started. We can help plan, implement, and analyze your hospital’s lighting systems.

Is Your Restaurant Lit?

Accessibility means visibility. When people think about ADA compliance and accessibility issues, they often think of wheelchair ramps. While making sure customers have wheelchair access throughout your dining room and restrooms, it’s also important to have the right lighting. Make sure your customers with visual impairments are also comfortable, and add signage that improves everyone’s experience. Here are two ways to do it:

Light up the sides of ramps and main aisles.

Many steps and ramps are required to have warning tape along the edges for general safety compliance. But that tape gets worn, torn, and obscured by dim lighting. Make everyone safer (and keep traffic moving in the best way for your restaurant) by adding smooth lighting along the edges of ramps and main aisles. Not only does this help highlight where the ramp is, it helps people know where to walk in a crowded space. It also implicitly reminds patrons to keep their bags out of the aisle so servers and new arrivals have an easier time getting to the tables.

Have multiple, lit signs pointing to the restrooms and exits.

Many restaurants have a split floor space. Whether it’s a wall dividing up the space, a central bar, or just decorative features, there’s usually some sort of barrier. But that means not everyone can see the sign above the restrooms. Make sure you have a clear, lit sign near the ceiling for maximum visibility. Have an additional sign and arrow visible from any point in the restaurant where the actual doorway is obscured. Many Applebee’s restaurants have made a point of hanging neon signs with a directive arrow on opposite sides of the restaurant, which are not only helpful but fit in with their decor.

How to Keep the Lights on in Your Hotel

In today’s economy, hotels and motels are a thriving market and the demand for these will continue to grow as time moves on. We find them convenient for business, leisure, and sadly even in the occasional emergency. Either way, hotel and motel owners gain a lot of guests in any given week. A huge factor in keeping the lights on literally has to do with lighting! More business is always desired as a hotel or motel owner, but also comes along with high energy costs due to lighting. Energy efficient lighting is also an attribute for safety and most importantly, it can bring back guests.

According to Energy Star, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the top use of hotel’s energy is used for lighting. No matter what the size of the establishment may be, there will always be a need for various types of lighting. With that said, why not choose the most energy efficient type possible to reduce the bill? Most businesses nowadays have chosen to use energy efficient lights and can benefit from them.

In addition to cost efficiency, let’s discuss safety. As an owner, safety is a top priority for running a business let alone a lodging establishment. Obviously, there’s the importance of having great lighting in order for your guests to be able to get around their rooms. Nobody will want to struggle to look for a simple lamp or light switch. Also, your guest’s safety is not at risk when using energy efficient lights. They are entirely environment-friendly which means they’ll be safe for your guests.

Above all, you want your guests to want to come back. Guests, in general, feel comfortable with plenty of lighting available to them in their rooms. This makes the rooms more inviting and is a valuable factor that your guests will certainly remember.

Contact us for any of your commercial or industrial needs.

Make Shopping at Your Grocery a Better Experience with These Lighting Changes

The fight between physical stores and online vendors will continue for years. Even clothing and groceries industries have faced an increase in online competition as increasingly personalized shopping experiences emerged. Quick shipping has allowed for fresh food deliveries (both for general groceries and pre-packed ingredients for specific meals) and clothing orders that let consumers wear the outfits and return what they don’t like. But that doesn’t mean your grocery store is going to be going out of business. Physical stores still control a hefty portion of the market, and that will continue to stabilize as shoppers look for shopping experience instead of just efficient purchasing.

Make sure your grocery store offers a good experience. Lighting plays a large part of how shoppers feel in your store, so improve your lighting with these three changes:

Have warm, low lighting where shoppers can congregate.

In-store coffee shops have been a growing trend for years, and grocery stores can expand on this with in-store delis and eateries. These sections give your customers a place to relax before or after shopping, and that turns even running errands into a good experience. Make the spaces feel warm and homey with warm lighting. Also, light the tables with individual fixtures under general lighting so the space doesn’t feel industrial.

Use accent lighting to emphasize free samples.

If you’re going to compete against online stores, you have to emphasize what they can’t offer customers: a sensory experience. Add free samples near your bakery and deli so customers can taste and smell featured products. Accent lighting helps draw customers in and directs traffic so they feel more implicitly invited to try the samples.

Use daylight bulbs to replicate sunlight near organic and fresh foods.

Locally sourced foods aren’t just demanded by a small subset of foodies. Even general consumers are increasing demand for locally grown products and ethical foods. If your store doesn’t have a lot of natural lighting, you can use LEDs with daylight-level lumens to light up organic and fresh food sections. It lights up the food without exposing it to extra heat, and the look of natural lighting underlines the message of natural foods, resulting in better sales.

Go to our website to check out how we can help you improve your lighting.