Lighting is one of the largest energy loads in a large commercial building. Lighting typically accounts for 35-50% of the electrical consumption which, in turn, dominates the total energy costs in a building. Since Edisons day, there has been a 100-fold increase in the efficacy of lighting sources. Relatively little progress, however, has been made in reducing consumption through effective lighting management — using the optimal amount of light, where needed, and when needed.

Commercial lighting control is an area where the potential for major energy saving exists. A number of new products have begun to emerge which focus on lighting control. To identify promising technologies and to expedite their adoption by building owners, the Department of Energy funded a program by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to test new, commercially available lighting controls in an actual office environment. The tests were designed to demonstrate the following:

1. which control strategies have the greatest impact and why
2. economic trade-offs between control cost and savings potential
3. acceptability of the controls to occupants
4. control reliability.