Lutron Experience Center Brings out Green in Lighting Control

Lighting control giant Lutron has been leading the green revolution for a long time. They just never said much about it.

Now the company is promoting lighting controls not just for safety, aesthetics and convenience, but for energy savings as well. The same goes for the company's other staple, motorized shades, which also can help to save energy by regulating the inside temperature.

"Awareness is our greatest opportunity," says David Weinstein, sales vice president, Global Window Systems. "We never really promoted energy savings before. Now we say that we can provide a beautiful environment and energy savings, and something that's good for the environment."

Weinstein says he was surprised to learn that electrical contractors who attend Lutron training "couldn't tell you how much energy you save and how much longer bulbs last if you dim them to 50 percent."

The answer: Dimming lights to 50 percent can shave about 40 percent off electricity usage, and extend bulb life by about 20 times. Dimming by just 10 percent can shave 10 percent off the electric tab, and double the life of a typical bulb.

The numbers are compelling. Even so, sometimes you have to drill the energy savings into the customer's head. That's exactly what Lutron has done with its new Grafik Eye QS, the next generation of the company's popular three- to six-zone single-room lighting controller. The front LCD panel reads out not only the status of lights, but the amount of energy that is being saved—in real time—by dimming the lights.

Lutron held its first official press demonstration of the new feature during a press event at the new Customer Experience Center in Irvine, Calif. There, you simply cannot miss the lesson on energy savings, even if the Grafik Eye LCD readout is too subtle. Mounted above the panel is a watt meter that fluctuates wildly when lights are turned on, turned off or dimmed.

So what about the craze over energy-saving compact fluorescent lights (CFL)? You can't dim those. (You can dim the four-pin fluorescent lights, just not the screw-in CFLs that are all the rage.) So how does that fit into the mix?

Kathie Leslie, Lutron's director of customer education suggests that consumers use an appropriate combination of CFLs and dimmable incandescents to achieve the optimal balance in bulb life, energy savings and lighting needs. CFLs do not have the flexibility of incandescents, she says: "You can't aim the light very well. It spills out over the sides. With a desk light, for example, you get a giant blob of light."

Using dimmers with incandescents can produce energy savings and extend bulb life just as well as CFLs, plus you get the added benefit of mood and scene control.

Back to the Grafik Eye QS. Lutron added even more features to make this controller an even better energy saving machine. For starters it added shade control to the product, which previously controlled lights only. "The shades can harness daylight so you spend less energy on heating, or block the heat to ease cooling costs," Weinstein says.

Also, the unit now has a contact closure input to enable devices such as occupancy sensors to trigger lighting scenes. And, there's a new astronomic clock for automating lights and shades according to schedules. (See our complete overview of the Grafik Eye QS).

Lutron concedes that lighting represents only about 8 percent of an electric bill, but "if every home in the U.S. put in a dimmer, it would be the equivalent of getting 370,000 cars off the road in terms of admissions," says Jackie Hill, customer education leader.

Showing Off

Saving energy is just one of the "experiences" demonstrated at Lutron's new Experience Center. Really, the 12,000 square foot facility is meant to educate consumers and contractors on the aesthetics and convenience of lighting and shade controls. Some 2,500 square feet of the center is devoted to home vignettes, simulating all the rooms of a well appointed home, including kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room and home theater.

Lighting control is "very experiential," says Leslie, who runs the Experience Center. "Trying to describe how you can really change the environment with lighting" is challenging, she says. "But once they [customers] see it, they get very excited."

She adds, "People look at magazines and say, 'Oh what a beautiful room.' Then they go out and try to copy it and it doesn't look like the magazine. That's because the photographer brings in a whole bunch of extra lights. But they can create it with good lighting."

Indeed the purpose of the Experience Center is to elevate lighting's status as an afterthought, and demonstrate how it should be an integral part of every home. Whirlpool tubs can add $1,000 or $1,500 to the cost of a home. "Every one has one," Leslie says, "but they never use them." Lighting is something you use all the time, every day.

During his tour of the mock home, Hill demonstrates a variety of scenarios that the typical consumer probably never fathomed – pathway scenes to guide a groggy homeowner to the restroom in the middle of the night, entertainment and clean-up modes to set scenes for a party, and panic buttons that flash the lights to scare off intruders.

These are the types of experiences that Lutron hopes to ingrain in the minds of interior designers, home builders and consumers. And, of course, they encourage these customers to use Lutron products. The full gamut of Lutron products is demonstrated in the home, from high-end to affordable, hardwired to wireless, bland faceplates to stainless steel.

Lutron dealers are invited to bring their customers to the center, and Lutron offers public tours every Wednesday. In addition to the demonstration areas, the Experience Center features two training rooms, where it hosts eight to 10 classes per month for the trade. Common space is available to professionals to hold client meetings and events, and Lutron holds events of its own. One recent happening drew more than 120 interior designers who came for refreshments, a tour, and a special presentation by a renowned designer.


The Lutron Grafik Eye QS shows energy savings on the LCD.


A watt meter mounted about the Grafik Eye provides further evidence of energy savings.


In addition to serving as a demo home, the Experience Center offers regular training for Lutron dealers as well as other contractors.


One of the many scenarios in the Experience Center: lighting a pathway to the bathroom.