American Renewable Energy Day brings together impact investors, visionaries, and renewable energy professionals to learn about how we can promote more clean, renewable energy. The Alliance for Sustainable Colorado hosted Derek Cowburn and Katherine Dayem to present “Crossing the Adoption Chasm”. John Powers from the Alliance moderates and offers a summary of the success of the Alliance building. It is… Read more →
Author: dcowburn
China Low Carbon City demonstration building
In September of 2016 LumenCache participated in the kickoff meeting for the CERC-BEE2 joint venture program sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DoE) and China’s Ministry of Housing for Urban and Rural Development (MOHURD). The first year activity was to demonstrate DC efficiency compared to AC power distribution. Second year activities encompass a systems approach to savings and demonstrating the benefits of converged DC and power distribution.
The first project installed in China was the exhibition hall of Singyes Solar. Singyes is performing parallel tests starting with AC powered LumenCache system, then switching to more efficient DC/DC powered system supplied from their building DC power bus.
The Future Cube building in the Low Carbon City will demonstrate that all DC infrastructure is not only possible, but easy to source and deploy.
LumenCache was selected because of its future-proof system architecture. This allows IBR and other China companies to create application modules for the LumenCache platform. They will demonstrate how locally developed smartbuilding applications will provide industry-changing results.
IBR plans to modify its wireless Indoor Air Quality monitoring product to use LumenCache as a reliable power and communications platform.
IBR is a State Owned company. Their recommendations are often used to affect building codes and policy for China.
Project Overview:
Future Cube Building (Interior Renovation)
5,000 square meters being renovated out of 26,000 square meter building
Display Area lighting
Office Area lighting
Two test suites for laboratory testing
DC DEPOT joins LumenCache as exclusive distributor to Mexico
DC DEPOT joins LumenCache as exclusive official representative in Mexico FISHERS, IN and MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (April 6, 2016) – LumenCache, an innovative leader in DC power distribution technology, is proud to welcome DC DEPOT (dba LumenCache MX) as the exclusive distributor to Mexico. DC DEPOT provides dealer training and support of the entire LumenCache product line in addition to… Read more →
LEED Platinum Urban Frontier Home
BACnet Vendor ID assigned to LumenCache
BACnet Vendor ID assigned to LumenCache FISHERS, IN (July 16, 2016) – LumenCache, an innovative leader in DC power distribution technology, was assigned a BACnet Vendor ID from ASHRAE allowing identification of devices. While new IoT protocols are constantly being released, BACnet continues to provide the most reliable and open communication protocol for connecting building systems together. About LumenCache https://lumencache.lighting… Read more →
UL2108 Compliance Testing Complete for LibRE Line
UL2108 Compliance Testing Complete for LibRE Line FISHERS, IN (July 10, 2016) – LumenCache, an innovative leader in DC power distribution technology, announces the completion of lab tests to achieve UL-2108 Certification for the LibRE product line. Over 4000 drivers and 600 patented Power Distribution Modules are in service in over 50 projects since 2011. Due to the Class 2… Read more →
Solar Decathlon 2015 Team Orange – UC Irvine
LumenCache is proud to be selected by Team Orange County to provide the advanced lighting for their Solar Decathlon home. This low voltage DC lighting solution helped them integrate with their energy management and controls to achieve their low-consumption goals without sacrificing the bright and inviting lighting plan they designed.
LumenCache and Aeratron Announce Strategic Partnership
Press Release (PDF) Full line of Aeratron DC Ceiling Fans to be LumenCache Compatible FISHERS, IN and LA MESA, CA (July 24, 2015) – Aeratron, developers of highly efficient and stylish DC ceiling fans, and LumenCache, an innovative leader in DC power distribution technology, have announced a partnership to release a complete line of LumenCache ready fans by second quarter… Read more →
Near Net-Zero Home
3700-sqft single story residence with a full basement was designed and built in just 5 months. Owners wanted a high-performance, yet ultra low operating cost home they can retire into, yet would fit into the covenants of an average Midwest neighborhood (harder that it sounds).
They focused on the most critical consumers of energy first so naturally installed Geothermal HVAC and invested in a balanced, high R-value insulation package.
The site and orientation of the home was selected to take advantage of the natural seasonal sun energy and gain some Passive House benefits. LumenCache roller shades are being added 3Q12 when released to fully take advantage of the solar resource through automation.
The next consumer is the lighting. The owners wanted a lot of light, but were not looking forward to high energy bills throughout their retirement so LEDs were the natural choice. Over 82 LumenCache LED lights fill the spaces with bright, beautiful, and perfectly dimmable light, and “changing a bulb” is a thing of the past with the drivers being located in three easy to access enclosures. With ALL the lights on FULL POWER they consume less than 800 Watts total.
The lighting enclosures contain the AC/DC battery charger power supply, a large sealed deep-cycle battery, and the LumenCache Power Distribution Modules. Simple Cat5 wires head in all directions to the light fixtures and switches and provide lighting power and data communications.
All the lights are LumenCache LEDs except the large chandelier in the foyer and the flood lights outside the house. This home was the very first LumenCache beta installation and at the time the options for “bulb” type fixtures using the LumenCache technology were limited (non-existent). Check out other project profiles to see how we totally solved that issue and now have many solutions for sconces, pendents, flood lights, and even large chandeliers.
A complete smart home structured wiring package was installed so there’s lots of TVs and entertainment electronics running that are big energy consumers. Even with all these loads on, the house electricity bills have averaged $55/mo.
How? There’s also a 4.88kW solar array on part of the roof. The large shed roof section was designed to support 3x this number of panels and can easily be added thanks to the micro-inverters under each panel.
When the new LumenCache occupancy detection sensors and ambient light detectors are installed, we can start activating the light-harvesting capabilities of LumenCache. Because the lights are all controlled by the single system, auto-configuration and switch-to-light connections are virtually assigned automatically. Further reducing the installation speed that Cat5 lighting is capable of delivering.
Parts Used
7 LumenCache Legacy Power Distribution Modules (L-PDM)
3 LumenCache Power Management Modules
3 12V Battery
3 AC/DC Battery Charger Power Supply
20 6″ recessed 650lm, 82CRI, 3000K fixtures w/Constant Current BoostPucks
50 4″ recessed 550lm, 82CRI, 3000K fixtures w/Constant Current BoostPucks
22 LumenCache SwitchPucks
5000′ Cat5e
2 40″ Enclosure
1 28″ Enclosure
Forest City Wellness Center
Forest City Enterprises wellness center project completed November 2014.
Mike Smith, VP Building Technology Services Group at Forest City Enterprises, said “They [controls engineers] had to double check the readings because they were so low. After calibration and checking each one we found it is costing about 60% of what we expected to operate.”
LEDs combined with efficient drivers, 2-level lighting controls, and occupancy detection create high system-level efficiency.
“We haven’t had an AC power failure at the building yet so we haven’t used the battery backup feature.” says Smith.
Their team did the payback analysis on adding solar panels to the building and found it was a little too long of a payback. “The load is so small that it’s not worth it to add to this project. New construction or projects with planned solar would have payback well within our desired timeframes.”
Parts Used
30 LumenCache Legacy Power Distribution Modules (L-PDM)y
6 12V Battery
6 AC/DC Battery Charger Power Supply
170 6″ recessed 900lm, 82CRI, 3000K fixtures w/Constant Current BoostPucks
67 2×2 panel lights 2900lm, 3000K fixtures w/Constant Current BoostPucks
20 LumenCache SwitchPucks
20 Daylight harvesting Motion Sensors
5 40″ Enclosure
2 28″ Enclosure