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DesignLights Consortium Seeks Self-Nominations for Industry Advisory Committee Members

William Attardi on August 22, 2025

The DesignLights Consortium today announced it is accepting self-nominations through October 3 from lighting industry representatives interested in serving on the DLC Industry Advisory Committee (IAC). An advisory body that meets quarterly, the IAC supports the mission and strategic direction of the DLC to promote the adoption of quality lighting and controls technology through education, collaborations, and expertise. Its activities include consideration of DLC business updates, programs to enhance lighting quality, utility lighting program participation, and ongoing opportunities, challenges, and potential risks related to advancement of energy-saving lighting technologies. The DLC is seeking new members for a two-year term that begins the third quarter of 2025 from the following organization types:

    • Small lighting manufacturers (companies with fewer than 250 employees, with product(s) listed on the DLC’s Solid-State Lighting or Horticultural Qualified Products Lists)
    • Lighting specifiers, including designers, energy service companies, consulting engineers and integrators
    • Lighting distributors.

The DLC is gathering self-nominations through an online form, must be submitted by October 3.

DesignLights Consortium Opens Comment Period for Second Draft of Technical Requirements for LED Lighting: SSL V6.0 & LUNA V2.0

William Attardi on July 28, 2025

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) today released the second draft of major updates to its Solid-State Lighting (SSL) technical requirements for indoor and outdoor non-residential LED lighting, as well as revisions to LUNA, a dark sky solution. Draft 2 will have a six-week comment period through September 5.  Reviewers can provide feedback via email to comments@designlights.org using the comment form. The final policy will be released in early November. Other changes in Draft 2 reflect feedback the DLC received from stakeholders relative to clarifying various aspects of the technical requirements. These changes are meant to streamline the qualification process for manufacturers while advancing the essential goals of SSL V6.0 and LUNA V2.0. Full details of all proposed revisions are available on the DLC’s website.

The DLC’s Horticultural Lighting QPL- What You Need to Know by Kasey Holland

William Attardi on July 16, 2025

Valued at $7.8 billion last year, the global controlled environment agriculture (CEA) market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.2% and expected to reach $22 billion by 2033, according to a recent market research report. With lighting as the largest operational cost in CEA facilities, opportunities abound for indoor growers to save energy and reduce expenses with the right lights. The average efficacy of listed products has increased by nearly 25% since the DLC launched its horticultural lighting qualified products list (QPL) in 2019. There are now over 1,375 products from nearly 150 manufacturers on the Horticultural QPL – a more than 54% increase in listed products since 2020. The DLC’s Horticultural QPL offers CEA lighting specifiers and contractors increasing product variety, and CEA growers ample opportunities for savings. The DLC’s Horticultural Lighting Program aims to accelerate widespread adoption of high performance, energy-saving LED technology in the horticultural lighting sector. The Horticultural QPL is a key tool in advancing that goal. Accessing the QPL is simple – just create a free My DLC account to start searching. The DLC’s Horticultural Lighting QPL- What you need to know | EC&M

 

DLC Updates its Technical Requirements for LED-Based Horticultural Lighting

William Attardi on March 14, 2025

A new version of the DesignLights Consortium’s (DLC) Horticultural Lighting Technical Requirements released today strengthens efforts to improve the efficacy and quality of LED products used in the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry. Taking effect April 18, 2025, the DLC’s new requirements come at a time of burgeoning growth in the CEA sector. Valued at $7.8 billion last year, the global CEA market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.2 percent and expected to reach $22 billion by 2033, according to a February 2025 market research report. With lighting being the largest operational expense in CEA facilities, there are significant opportunities to increase energy efficiency and cost savings with the right lights. [News] DesignLights Consortium Updates its Technical Requirements for LED-Based Horticultural Lighting – LEDinside

Memo: Clarifications to the NLC 2020 Report – 2025 update

William Attardi on February 22, 2025

 “Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control (NLC) Systems With and Without LLLC”  Key updates include refined clarification of the definition of luminaire-level lighting controls (LLLC) used in the report, elaborated explanations on several important aspects of the control savings factors (CSFs), and distinguishing the calculation methodology between high-end trim savings and other control strategies (occupancy sensing and daylight harvesting). The memo emphasizes that the documented CSFs reflect average savings across a diverse set of projects, where optimal programming varied, and highlights considerations for small sample bias in evaluations. Building-specific CSFs and their limitations are explained, and the memo differentiates findings from a related redesign study to avoid misinterpretation. Lastly, an updated executive summary and errata sheet correct clerical errors, reaffirming that NLC systems with LLLC offer higher energy savings potential but encouraging ongoing updates as technology and datasets evolve.

The Value of Dimming by Levin Nock

William Attardi on January 9, 2025

It’s easy to see the energy benefits of dimming: the more an LED fixture is dimmed, the less electricity it uses. In terms of future-proofing the energy savings of lighting projects, the longevity of LED products makes it paramount to strengthen requirements for dimmability and other lighting control strategies now, since LEDs installed today are expected to work for a decade or more. The latest version of the DesignLights Consortium’s (DLC) Solid-State Lighting (SSL)Technical Requirements stresses the importance of dimming as a way to increase energy savings, while allowing occupants of offices, conference rooms and other spaces to adjust light levels to their comfort or needs. All LEDs are inherently able to dim and nearly 100% of DLC-listed fixtures are dimmable. Expanded adoption is the necessary next step to capturing the benefits of dimming. The Value of Dimming | EC&M

TRAINING: How to Design a Lighting Control System by C. Webster Marsh and Craig DiLouie

William Attardi on December 31, 2024

Based on EE105: Lighting Control System Design, a new course in the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express program provides detailed information about designing an effective lighting control solution. In Part 1 of this Lighting Controls System Design series, we learned about key documentation including the Content Intent Narrative (CIN), Sequence of Operations (SOO), and Owner Project Requirements (OPR). The next step in design development in Part 2, is to turn these requirements and conceptual design into a realized design. In Part 3 of this series on how to design a lighting control system, we will discuss installation and post-occupancy. You will learn about bidding, responding to questions from installers, reviewing submittals and defending your design, following-through with the installation of the equipment, functional testing, training essential staff, and ultimately ensuring the owner is satisfied. How to Design a Lighting Control System

DLC Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0

William Attardi on December 31, 2024

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released their Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0. The draft proposes three updates:

  • Efficacy increase: Hort V4.0 proposes to increase the efficacy threshold to 2.5 μmol × J-1, which is an 8.7% increase over the Hort V3.0 threshold. This will set the DLC efficacy threshold for LED-based horticultural lighting at more than 45% above the most efficacious non-LED option.
  • Removal of lamp categories: Hort V4.0 proposes to remove eligibility for lamps. This decision was made based on low application numbers in lamp categories.
  • Clarifications to various requirements: A variety of clarifications are proposed throughout Hort V4.0, including for definitions of key terminology and for certain testing requirements.

The Draft 1 Horticultural Technical Requirements V4.0 document is available here.

LightNOW: News and Opinion for the Lighting Industry

LED Bollards with Selectable Wattages by naturaLED

William Attardi on November 26, 2024

naturaLED® has LED Bollards with customizable wattage capabilities. 8″ diameter for easy retrofits and 4 configurations. Perfect for your area lighting, pathway, or perimeter lighting projects! BLD bright pathway lighting is important for the safety of pedestrian foot traffic. Ensuring that sidewalks and pavement are well-lit reduces the risk of people tripping and falling. The superior quality of our DLC Bollard light fixture provides glare-free lighting that replaces 100-watt metal halide fixtures and produces 2000 lumens. led bollards – naturaLEDWatch the Frank Grobmeier video: Discover the Difference between Pathway & Bollards (youtube.com)

Name, Image Likeness (NIL) – NIL legislation has transformed the college sports landscape. The Supreme Court, NCAA, and student-athletes all played a role in the new compensation rules. NCAA long argued that amateurs are understood as those who do not profit off of their athletic performance and college sports fans and consumers demanded amateur play on the collegiate level. That argument was denied by the Supreme Court. Student-athletes can now be paid for their autograph, developing their own merchandise, promoting products or services, and event appearances due to their personal celebrity. Now, athletes are starting their own brands, endorsing brands, and becoming their own brands. While the Supreme Court and NCAA passed Name, Image, and Likeness into affect, schools still have their own specificities around the new rule. One of the most important hurdles for student-athletes now is to use these guidelines properly. That is to say athletes must understand how the state they play in or school they attend may affect the way they can utilize now-legal NIL rules. Rules on school logo restrictions, what products may or may not be sponsored, as well as other guidelines, differ from state and school. Athletes are also expected to inform universities of NIL deals and contracts they decide to engage in. Social media and personal branding are now more important than ever. And this is just the beginning.