Research & Innovation

CLTC and UC Davis have partnered with affiliate American Honda Motor Co., Inc. on the Honda Smart Home US project. Groundbreaking took place April 23, 2013 at UC Davis West Village. Project leaders from UC Davis and Honda celebrated the project's completion at an open house event on March 25, 2014. The zero net energy (ZNE) home is a model of residential sustainability, demonstrating best-practice solutions for lighting in new construction projects.

The California Lighting Technology Center is working with the Institute for Sustainable Performance of Buildings (SuPerB) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to develop and distribute a free, open-source computer resource for green-building education.

The UC Davis Smart Lighting Initiative was established in 2010 to improve the quality and efficiency of both indoor and outdoor lighting on campus. The initiative's primary goal is to reduce UC Davis's electricity use for lighting by 60 percent, based on 2007 levels of energy use. The effort was inspired by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and its call to reduce statewide electricity consumption for lighting by 60 percent or more by 2020.

Exterior lighting for streets, roadways, parking lots, and other outside sites represents nearly 10% of the electricity consumed on military bases. Lighting in these areas typically consists of high pressure sodium or sometimes metal halide lamps that are normally controlled by photo-sensors located centrally or sometimes on each fixture. This limited functionality includes turning the lights on in the evening and off in the morning regardless of occupancy levels, thereby consuming more electricity than necessary.

CLTC and the Energy Efficiency Center at UC Davis partnered with Chevron Energy Solutions to map out California's current streetlight infrastructure. Researchers gathered data on 1.1 million streetlights from 212 cities throughout the state.

CLTC communicates and collaborates with the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to provide objective information and expert analysis that may inform the Commission’s lighting-related energy policies, programs and mandates. CLTC supports the CPUC’s Energy Division in its lighting-related goals, initiatives and activities, including the Lighting Action Plan, a near-term implementation guide for achieving the goals stated in the Lighting Chapter of California’s Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan.

The California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program (CALCTP) provides training and certification to electricians, contractors, acceptance test technicians, building operators and managers. The program is increasing the use of energy-saving lighting controls in commercial buildings and ensuring they are properly installed and commissioned for maximum effectiveness.

The California Energy Commission has adopted a voluntary lighting quality specification for LED replacement lamps. The new standard requires LED lamps to meet certain performance criteria in order to qualify for incentive programs and rebates. These criteria include the color of a lamp’s light, its consistency over time, and its accuracy in rendering colors. The specification for incentivized LED lamps also includes requirements regarding dimming and flickering.

The Core Sunlighting Alliance is a group of leaders in the fields of design, construction, energy-efficient technology development, and energy regulation who are committed to accelerating the commercialization and widespread adoption of core sunlighting systems.

The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the U.S. Department of Energy recently completed a state-of-the-art lighting system demonstration at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, California. On March 19th, 2014, the project received an award for “Best Use of Lighting Controls in a Single Facility” from the Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign.