Smart versus conventional lighting in apartments - Electric lighting energy consumption simulation for three different households

Abstract

For residential environments, energy-reducing strategies to cope with user activities and behaviour are currently limited mainly to the implementation of improved lighting technology. Non-residential environments have already been operating smart lighting systems for many years. These systems use advanced and integrated lighting technology, including an internet-based network for data communication. As user activities and behaviour in the residential sector significantly differ from the non-residential one; thus, a non-residential energy optimisation potential may not necessarily be achievable and directly translatable to the residential sector. Also, the architectural typological variety amongst residences may be larger than non-residences. In residential buildings, the effect of the composition of a household (domestic establishment) and user activities on smart lighting systems' consumption and efficiency are not explicitly investigated before. In this light simulation study in Sweden, 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.