Saving on lighting

How to save money with smart-home lighting ?

“In most buildings, lighting is simply turned on when it is needed and turned off when it is not needed. Most often with a button. Not only is it not convenient, but it is also not very profitable – especially in the case of larger houses or office or production buildings.

– More than once I found myself going out “only for a moment” to the garden or even the bathroom – the lights in other rooms remained on. I just didn’t want to go around the house and put out each one in turn. When the company I run began to develop and new employees appeared, I began to notice how much electricity was wasted – says Adam, owner of a family company producing electronic devices for speleologists.

An empty conference room in which all the lights are lit for two more hours after the meeting (24 luminaires x 35W each = PLN 0.51 an hour) is already over PLN 20 a month. And sometimes we had several meetings. The warehouse lighting (15 lamps x 80W = PLN 0.72) left by the last employee for the whole night is another PLN 11.5.

And despite the requests and threats, it happened on average every 3-4 days, so another over PLN 60 was thrown into the trash. Examples can be multiplied and although some of the employees said that I just pick on me, the bill of several thousand every month convinced me that something should be done about it. And it was not an easy task, because every specialist I asked for advice talked about energy-saving luminaires or LED bulbs. And we’ve had these for a long time – and they don’t work for free either. “

Management, not cost cutting!

You can use more and more energy-saving light sources, but they often give much less light, its quality (which translates into, among others, color reproduction) is lower and can even cause fatigue through flickering which, although it seems invisible, is perceived by the human body.

Another option is better control. Turning on the light only when it is needed, turning it off when not in use. When employees leave the company or when the sun is shining outside. Also adjust the brightness to the currently performed activities. – For example, when a conference room is used by only two – three employees chatting over coffee, the lighting above the conference table is half-dimmed and up to 30% in the rest of the room – so that they do not accidentally bump into something while getting up – adds Adam with a smile.

Most people will say at this point: it won’t work! – constant switching on, extinguishing, dimming and brightening of the light requires not only the reconstruction of the electrical installation (division into circuits, additional knobs and buttons on the walls), but also additional time of employees to keep an eye on it.

The solution in this case is to use a special light management system – also known colloquially as an “intelligent building”. Devices that allow you to regulate the intensity of light, turn it on and off – often also using a computer or even a smartphone or tablet, so that, for example, the last person leaving the company can turn off all unnecessary lights in three taps of the screen without having to go around the building and much more . But wait! After all, such solutions are supposedly cosmically expensive, complicated and require a general renovation, control cabinets and kilometers of cables?

This was also thought of the aforementioned Adam.

Control for PLN 100 with no cables ?

This has been the case for many years. Intelligent building systems required special installation, dedicated cabling, expensive, complicated controllers and trained specialists with German certificates. However, this era is slowly coming to an end.

There’s an increasing number of products on the market that allow for the non-invasive transformation of existing buildings into intelligent buildings, such in which we can control lighting, heating, roller shutters or doors and gates. And at the same time to generate significant savings.

Blebox products are particularly noteworthy – based on a unique technology developed by Poles, which allows you to directly control all devices via your home or company WiFi network from a smartphone and tablet – also from anywhere in the world.

The smallest controller – wLightBoxS – allows you to control a single 12 / 24V LED luminaire or a group of luminaires, wirelessly switch on and off and adjust the brightness, as well as create time scenarios (e.g. automatically turn off or dim the lighting after working hours or when we are not at home) costs exactly 100 zlotys. The prices of the most advanced, designed for operation in extreme conditions, with extended range and extensive integration options do not exceed PLN 200. They do not need central units, servers or even certified installers to operate – they can be easily connected by a company maintenance technician or electrician – or even the user himself – on YouTube you can find many step-by-step instructional videos on how to do it.

Upgrade whenever you want

When using BleBox devices, you do not have to decide on a large investment right away. Start with one lamp. When you find out how easy the installation was and how convenient it is to control it, add another one. Then a projection screen and roller blinds in the conference room, a door or a gate. You can add more and more devices at any time and without restrictions. Isn’t that convenient?

Made in Poland

Of course, the malicious will say: they buy for five dollars in China, pack in Poland and sell. And here is a surprise, because blebox.eu products were developed in Poland (by the authors of the Polish Invention of the Year 2014 and over 60 innovative solutions and technologies) and are produced in the European Union (mainly in Poland and Germany), hence the incomparably higher quality and five-year warranty.