Health and well-being claims, user-system interaction, and energy efficiency are three challenges for smart lighting use in the built environment. Smart lighting control can assist energy-efficient behaviour and well-being improvement, but a mismatch between user expectation and system interaction can make it a source of frustration, especially in a home environment. Smart systems should save energy rather than increase it due to standby energy and data transfer.

The aim is to develop and test smart lighting protocols for the built environment that provide or increase safety, comfort, health, and well-being and minimise energy consumption

Panoramic view of the SMILE laboratory

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First outcomes

An agent-based simulation model of a one-bedroom apartment in Sweden was chosen for comparison between different households' arrangements and occupancy patterns regarding the energy consumption of a conventional and Smart Lighting System (SLS). The first result shows that the number of residents within an apartment does not necessarily lead to higher energy consumption. Further findings indicate that, even though it has standby energy consumption, SLS is more energy-efficient compared to the conventional lighting system. Additionally, energy consumption during weekends was considerably higher than during weekdays (Soheilian et al., 2019).

In a light simulation study in Sweden (Hafezparast-Moadab et al., 2021), the electric lighting energy consumption for a two-room apartment was modelled for three different household scenarios using DIALux Evo and DIVA-for Rhino. The household scenarios were composed based on input by 12 existing Swedish households and incorporate residential occupancy variety. The study's findings suggested that the appropriate use of smart lighting solutions, including optimised sensor applications, has the potential to save more than 50% of electric lighting energy consumption compared to non-smart systems. The study demonstrated promising simulation results specifically focussing on (smart) lighting application alternatives in the residential sector.

Schematic overview of the workflow in the light simulation study

Contact information and publications

For more information regarding the research area and/or projects, please contact Myriam Aries (SMILE) or RatnaKala Sithravel (DOSE / Extra-DOSE).

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