RESIDENTIAL
approach as a digital protocol for power, though only smarter folks can tell if that analogy is even close to accurate. Digital power systems send electricity in packets, effectively allowing power to behave like AC or DC when needed. Imagine a single receptacle in the house: your teenager plugs in their phone, without a power cube, and the power itself knows that they need 5V of DC power. Later, you plug in a portable heater and the same outlet knows you need – and delivers – 120VAC. Your toddler sticks their finger into the receptacle and milliseconds later it shuts off, leaving the child unharmed. And, there is no trip to the basement electrical panel for a reset – the power system knows when the finger is removed, and the vacuum cleaner is plugged in. While digital power is still in its infancy, I wonder if it could be advanced rapidly with a little collective effort. Low voltage power can also be run on the surface of walls in paint-over and mudover flat cables, making retrofit easier. Add native intelligence to the micro-grid in your home, and you can seamlessly integrate with on-site renewable energy generation like solar and wind. Smarter systems also increase resilience capabilities, automatically sensing powerhungry devices and shutting them down during power disruption. Some smart systems today can shut down a receptacle when power switches to a generator or battery backup; digital power can leave the receptacle active for cell phone charging but refuse to run a vacuum. And smarter power systems serve as a backbone for smarter lighting fixtures that transform our experience. Using line voltage power is akin to overbuilding a home’s foundation. All the extra concrete in the ground is wasted effort, money, and resources.
The Future of Power Simply switching to low voltage lighting could allow us to put 160 fixtures on a single 20A circuit, but that only scratches the surface of the power revolution brewing under the radar. Digital power systems answer the age-old AC/DC debate by refusing to compromise, delivering the safety and convenience of low voltage direct current power with the extended distance and wattage capabilities of alternating current. I think of this new
Smarter Fixtures
I cannot possibly list all the pros and cons of low voltage lighting in a single article, and it will take others to fully explain what I am only beginning to grasp. But, I do know that smarter lighting is possible when we reconsider our power systems. We all learned (sometimes painfully) that heat is the enemy of LEDs. DC-DC drivers produce much less heat than the AC-DC drivers most of our recessed downlights use today, which could help our LEDs last longer. Their much smaller size will also make it easier to retrofit solutions and to insulate fixtures well, further increasing the positive impacts of the change.
Simply switching to low voltage lighting could allow us to put 160 fixtures on a single 20A circuit, but that only scratches the surface of the power revolution brewing under the radar. 50
designing lighting