Remember the Clapper? If you do recall that 20th-century sound-activated power switch, you probably now have the jingle bouncing around in your head. We’re sorry. Lighting controls have gotten a lot smarter since then, and it...

Not long ago, smart lighting was outside the realm of typical commercial projects. Driven by energy-efficiency, integration and interoperability demands, smart lighting has moved past hype and become practical. Electrical...

Electrical contracting is all about connecting. Your company is out there every day installing, maintaining, servicing and controlling power. It’s not just about wires, though—it’s about interacting with customers and co...

A 2017 DesignLights Consortium report analyzing performance data from more than 100 installations found that networked lighting controls produced an average 47 percent lighting energy savings. The biggest value in connected...

Wireless home automation may seem like it snuck up on us, yet the smart home market has been around for four decades. What’s changed is the rapid success of voice assistants, the internet of things, technologically confident...

Most electrical contractors are no strangers to LED installations, and the industry-wide transition to efficient LEDs is a revenue source for many installers. Becoming experts in such deployments and their controls, however...

Until recently, contractors installing LEDs didn’t need to focus on the design—considering how the lighting will perform within a specific location and whether it matches the customer’s expectations. But electrical contractor...

The proliferation of dimmable LED lighting and wireless connectivity has positioned connected lighting for strong growth. The biggest markets are expected to be linear, outdoor, and low- and high-bay applications, where high...

A virtual digital assistant is software that can perform tasks for consumers such as looking up information on the internet, playing media and buying products online. It uses speech recognition technology to respond to voice...

Enabled by rapid adoption of LED technology, the lighting industry continues to undergo historic change. Connectivity and networked control, the internet of things (IoT), lighting and health, restrictive energy codes, and...

In September 2017, the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) published “Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control Systems.” The report analyzes the energy-savings potential of networked lighting control systems. Based on...

Today’s progressive electrical contracting business is really all about delivering proactive services that keep customers' systems up and running reliably. Servicing the customer throughout the year instead of a once-and-done...

According to a 2016 industry study by Zion Research, the U.S. market for home automation systems is growing by leaps and bounds. Valued at nearly $5 billion this year and forecast to nearly double by 2021, the home automation...

While lighting control technology has proven to be a great means for reducing energy consumption, saving energy costs, and enhancing user satisfaction within a lighted space, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing...