Franklin & Marshall College’s campus is peppered with a mix of historic and modern buildings. For the facilities team, those beautiful, historic brick buildings can add a layer of challenge when it comes to facility updates and maintenance. This is just one of the reasons college electrician Pat Henry is pleased with Lutron’s Vive wireless lighting control solutions, and why the college is working to include Vive as part of the master specification for campus improvements.
“On a campus where some of the buildings date back to 1792, it’s just not always feasible to have to fish wires through the walls,” Henry explains.
Challenge
Lighting and lighting control has come a long way in the last five years with LED technology largely replacing traditional fluorescent lighting fixtures. Renovations in any office, classroom, or dorm almost always include a complete lighting and control upgrade.
The Franklin & Marshall College facilities team came to Lutron for a solution that was easy to install with minimal disruption to space occupants, easy to program and energy efficient. The system they chose had to have timeclock functionality, the ability to load shed and provide real-time energy savings—all within the college’s budget.
Solution
Vive addresses the need for scalable control that’s wireless, easy to install, and simple to program. The college agreed to try it out in an energy retrofit in the College Square administrative offices. Henry was able to install and program the controls while the building was occupied and without outside help.
“We were able to complete the installation and setup in a total of four days, working from just 6 to 8 a.m. As one of the first Vive projects, Lutron even asked us for feedback on the Vive app, helping us make programming even more intuitive,” Henry recalls.
Occupancy sensors ensure that lights aren’t left on when the space is vacant; daylight sensors automatically reduce lighting levels in perimeter offices; and Pico controls provide personal dimming control to space occupants. With the existing fluorescent fixtures, the administrative offices were using 130 Kwh during the measured time period. After the lighting and controls retrofit the space is using 60.86 Kwh in a comparable time period—a total electricity savings of 55 percent, which allows the college to redirect those dollars to benefit its students.
Results
After the success of the College Square installation, and previous experience with standalone Lutron wireless controls in Old Main (a building that houses administrative offices, lecture halls and recital rooms), the Franklin & Marshall College facilities team approved Vive solutions for use in a whole-scale renovation of its Keiper Liberal Arts Building.
“It just works,” Henry adds. “The system is versatile and offers tremendous functionality. With Lutron Pico wireless remotes you can put the control wherever you need it, and that’s a huge time and materials saver.” Notably, the Keiper Liberal Arts Building was dedicated in the 1930s; Old Main dates back to 1856 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Henry pointed out that in the Keiper Liberal Arts Building renovation, he was able to put wireless controls at every podium in every classroom, giving professors convenient control of the lights wherever they are. “We can use the right mix of products in every space from open offices, to classrooms, to meeting rooms,” he says. “It makes product bids, installation, and programming easier and less time consuming.”
Vive is also scalable. A space can be programmed as a standalone system and tied into a centralized Vive hub down the road, making it easy to adjust any area of lights from a smart phone or tablet.
PROJECT UPDATE
Since the initial installation of Vive wireless, Franklin & Marshall College has added Vive Vue management software. Developed with the simple, scalable, wireless building blocks of the Vive system, Vive Vue software now delivers the advanced intelligence necessary for today’s smart buildings.
The facilities team can now control and configure the lights, monitor energy usage over time, analyze, and report on the activity and performance of the lighting system in their buildings.
Vive also integrates seamlessly with BACnet to improve energy efficiency across systems and enhance smart-building performance.
Building Photos: courtesy of Franklin & Marshall College