As the LED light source continues to claim a majority share of the installed lighting stock, its once-novel energy efficiency has become standard. As a result, the story of lighting now goes beyond energy to educate building owners about other sources of value afforded by the technology—flexibility, data and deep carbon savings with controls and integration; lighting quality with good design and optics; and breaking down complexity with factory programming and artificial intelligence. In one sense, the LED revolution is over. In another, it’s simply entering the next phase.

To learn more about how the lighting world is changing and how electrical contractors can prosper in it, six manufacturers and thought leaders offered their perspectives.

LED lighting continues to achieve dominant market saturation in the existing building stock. The big question is, as the LED revolution completes its displacement of traditional lighting systems, what’s next for lighting as a category and an industry?

Christy Tilton, senior vice president and U.S. and Canada sales leader for Genlyte Solutions, Bridgewater, N.J., a Signify business: Lighting is an industry in the fast lane. It’s going through several different waves of transformation concurrently, all of which are promising for electrical contractors.

While virtually every new U.S. construction project incorporates LED lighting and controls, there is still a big opportunity to upgrade existing buildings to the latest technology. LED retrofit lamps and tubes have advanced tremendously; these products have become ultra-efficient, contributing to significant energy savings over standard LED alternatives and quicker paybacks for customers. 

Transitioning to connected LED lighting and controls systems can unlock even greater benefits. Businesses and cities can have precise control over, and collect and visualize data from, their lit environment. They can use these insights to drive operational efficiencies, support the well-being and performance of occupants in the illuminated space and advance their sustainability goals beyond basic energy savings. 

Lastly, artificial intelligence (A.I.) is beginning to transform the professional lighting industry. It’s being incorporated into chatbots, for example, to simplify connected lighting system installations, support troubleshooting and provide general guidance. It’s also helping to speed up lighting design processes, such as daylight simulations or energy modeling, and support product searches and quoting to efficiently serve customers and turn around projects.

The future of lighting looks brighter than ever before. 

What are the biggest opportunities in lighting for electrical contractors today, and how can they best capitalize on them?

Scott Ziegenfus, vice president of customer experience at Current Lighting, Greenville, S.C.: Right now, it’s less about installing lights and more about unlocking what those lights can do. Lighting is in every space, every room and every corner. And that makes it the perfect gateway into the bigger building story—that being HVAC plus security plus energy plus space management. The lights already know what’s going on, and the opportunity is getting them to say it out loud.

For contractors, that means stepping beyond the fixture. Controls, integration and commissioning are the places where value is added. And to be clear, we’re not just talking about meeting code or installing some motion sensors. We’re talking about lighting as the backbone of building intelligence, and if you know how to connect those dots, then you’re already ahead.

The good news is that you don’t need a PhD in control networks. Today, there are more wireless tools, simplified platforms and factory-­loaded defaults, so it’s all getting much easier from where we were even a short time ago. But what still matters is understanding why it works and how to explain that to your customer. Of course, the key is always to make it real, to show them how it saves them time, money, hassle and fits into a bigger system.

That’s the play. Be the one who can light the room and tell the building what to do next.

As LED technology becomes the majority light source in the installed base, what technologies should electrical contractors be watching as microtrends and that add value?

Eric Jerger, vice president and general manager of Cooper Lighting Solutions, Peachtree City, Ga., a Signify business: As LEDs become the dominant light source, electrical contractors are asking what adds value beyond efficiency. Several contractor-­focused microtrends are emerging:

Connected emergency lighting: Compliance has long been a pain point. Auto-testing reduces callouts and creates recurring revenue opportunities. Contractors can own the network and offer subscription services for quarterly/annual test reports, battery replacement schedules and remote alerts.

Rebates tied to “LED + controls:” Incentives are increasingly shifting toward fixture-integrated sensing, creating wins for contractors on net cost—even if labor isn’t the lowest bid. Beyond the install, contractors can monetize through rebate administration and post-install measurement and verification.

“Right to repair” and circular fixtures: Driven by both regulatory and owner sustainability mandates, there’s growing demand for fixtures that can be serviced, not scrapped. This steers maintenance dollars toward replaceable drivers, surge modules, photocells and sensors over a product’s life.

Out-of-the-box controls functionality: Controls that operate immediately after installation and power-on minimize commissioning hours and callbacks. Contractors can also add basic sequence of operations as a line item, validate per-area functionality and offer 30/60/90-day retuning packages.

Low-glare/visual comfort: Visual comfort reduces complaints and change orders, which translates directly to better margins and stronger customer relationships. Indoors, it enhances tenant satisfaction. Outdoors, it minimizes trespass and supports dark-sky goals. Contractors can monetize this through comfort package adders—louvers, shields, aiming and verification services, and post-occupancy tuning.

In a competitive market, these service-oriented microtrends help contractors build lasting customer relationships while creating predictable revenue streams beyond the initial installation. 

Lighting controls are close to fully realized in energy codes, making advanced control solutions a staple in new construction. What’s next for lighting controls, and what opportunities are there to increase adoption in the existing buildings market?

Gary Meshberg, chair of the Lighting Controls Academy (formerly the Lighting Controls Association), Rosslyn, Va.: Lighting controls are now firmly embedded in most energy codes, making advanced control strategies standard in both new construction and retrofits. The next phase is shifting from basic compliance toward interoperability, intelligence and user value. While adoption has been steady, growth is expected to accelerate as IoT-enabled systems integrate with HVAC, security and occupancy analytics, delivering not only greater energy savings but also valuable insights into space utilization, tenant comfort and operational efficiency.

A.I.-driven controls will play a key role, enabling self-­commissioning, predictive maintenance and real-time optimization, all of which reduce the workload on facility teams. Expanding beyond traditional lighting and energy applications, the “smart ceiling“ equipped with advanced sensors will support functions such as comfort, security, health monitoring, color temperature (CCT) adjustment, temperature and humidity tracking, sound detection and detailed occupancy analytics.

A major opportunity lies in existing buildings, where much of the floor space still uses outdated manual or standard-alone systems. Successful retrofits demand wireless, modular and minimally disruptive solutions. Low-cost wireless protocols like Bluetooth Mesh and Zigbee, along with hybrid systems that reuse existing wiring, make upgrades more feasible. Adoption can be accelerated through utility incentives, clear ROI tools and bundling controls upgrades with LED relamping, ESG initiatives or tenant experience enhancements.

Ultimately, the future of lighting controls goes beyond energy codes. It’s about smart building integration, actionable data and retrofit-ready solutions that transform lighting control from a compliance requirement into a strategic business asset—delivering measurable value to building owners, operators and occupants alike.

As LED market saturation increases, commercial lighting rebate programs are seeing diminishing returns from the traditionally productive lighting category. How are these programs responding, and where do you see them in five years?

Tina Halfpenny, executive director and CEO of the DesignLights Consortium, Medford, Mass.: Market saturation has shifted some program baselines from fluorescent or HID to a mixed or LED baseline, and a few programs can no longer claim savings from LED-only installations. But lighting efficiency has long been the cornerstone of energy savings, and its importance continues. LEDs, and especially LEDs paired with advanced controls, remain the most cost-effective way to achieve significant, reliable savings.

The majority of programs still rely on lighting for a significant portion of savings portfolios and most offer incentives replace early-generation LED with modern LED paired with controls. The DLC SSL V5.1 Technical Requirements, released in 2020, required product dimmability, making 99% of currently QPL-listed products compatible with controls, and the next version—V6.0, finalized this fall—includes controls categories to make claiming savings for controlled LED lighting even easier. Pairing LEDs with controls unlocks deeper savings from occupancy sensing, daylighting and advanced strategies like high-end trim while offering the potential to integrate with HVAC and for whole building optimization.

In five years, assuming energy-efficiency and carbon reduction policies are still intact, programs will evolve toward controls-driven savings, system integration and grid-­interactive capabilities. As transportation, heating and other building systems transition to electric loads and A.I. and data centers drive explosive new demand, programs will increasingly value demand flexibility and use lighting and HVAC integration to reduce peak load and support grid stability, while maintaining lighting efficiency as a core savings strategy. The focus shifts from “LED adoption” to maximizing value through controllability, interoperability and demand management.

Where do you see the lighting industry in five years in terms of major market and technology trends?

Mark Lien, industry relations consultant for the Illuminating Engineering Society, New York: All revolutions end. The solid-state lighting revolution ended years ago. From 2005, LED sources and luminaires provided an enticing return on investment. Their value proposition sparked rapid change in the lighting industry. Those who understood the value—almost everyone—and could afford to upgrade their lighting systems did so. There remain opportunities for interior retrofits primarily in the central and southern parts of our country. Second- and third-generation LEDs have a significantly slower ROI, but, for some applications, the ROI is still compelling.

Consumers have accepted price and performance levels, so there is little incentive for improvement. Most LED research has ceased. We will see incremental advancements in intensity, longevity and color-changing options, but the dramatic performance gains of the first decade of LEDs are over.

LEDs are part of a mature lighting market. They are here for the foreseeable future. The next major technology shift is artificial intelligence, or A.I. It is permeating all aspects of our society. A.I. will finally unify control of all disparate devices in our homes and businesses. It will automatically adapt to user preferences and patterns. A.I. is already changing lighting design, manufacturing, marketing and sales. 

There are indications, however, that A.I. progress is slowing. The recent release of ChatGPT v5 was overhyped. Other than improvements in writing and coding, it matched or underperformed its predecessor. The efficiency advantages that A.I. offers ensures that, like LEDs, A.I. is here to stay in our lighting industry for the foreseeable future.

stock.adobe.com / shacil