What Is Smart Lighting & How Can it Benefit You?

Smart lighting is one of the most in-demand smart home features for people looking to add character and ambience to their homes. However, smart lighting doesn't just improve your home's style, it can make everyday life easier and more convenient.

Along with smart sound, security, and heating, lighting has become increasingly popular as more IoT (Internet of Things) tech enters our homes. The smart lighting market alone is projected to exceed $94bn by 2030, more than six times its 2021 value.

Jump To

• What Is Smart Lighting Technology?
• What Types of Smart Lighting Are There?
• Can I Install Smart Lights in My Current Setup?
• What Are the Benefits of Smart Lighting?
  • Features To Improve Your Smart Home
  • Custom Lighting Control
  • Reduce Your Home's Carbon Footprint
  • Integration With Other Smart Home Systems
    • Smart Lighting and Automated Blinds
    • Lighting and Smart Security
    • Lighting and Smart Home Entertainment
• Can I Upgrade My Smart Lighting? 
• The Future of Smart Lighting
• Final Thoughts

Homeowners are eager to level-up their houses with the newest, most inventive lighting tech. We’re here to help.

This latest blog explains smart lighting and its benefits for you. We will explore how it can improve your house's value, among other useful features.

What Is Smart Lighting Technology?

Smart lighting is the term given to lighting systems controlled remotely with a connected device. These can include smartphones, tablets, or intuitive control panels. You can adjust lights or switch them on and off from anywhere in the house. Some systems even allow you to control your smart lighting when you're away through scheduling and automation, or via an app on a smart device.

There’s more to smart lighting than being able to control your lights hands-free. While it certainly adds a “wow factor” to your home, the ingrained features can also reduce your carbon footprint and save money on your bills.

What Types of Smart Lighting Are There?

Smart lighting covers a wide range of lighting types and lighting systems. It can be a single smart LED bulb with adjustable light temperature, or a fully-programmed household lighting system controlled through a smartphone, tablet or wall-mounted smart panel, integrated with other smart home systems.

Can I Install Smart Lights In My Current Setup?

Thanks to the growth of the smart lighting market, there are systems to suit any setup. Brands like Lutron have pioneered this trend, and produced a range of styles that make perfect additions for both period and more modern homes.

At the same time, smart lighting has become accessible to the average consumer as well. Philips Hue - the most prominent example - is a line of smart light bulbs and plugs you can connect to over the internet. However, these DIY smart lights need lots of attachments that can be tricky to install and maintain. Additionally, if your internet goes down for any reason, you can be left with very limited lighting control over your Philips Hue bulbs.

To make sure your smart lighting upgrade works from one easy-to-use system, a professional setup is the best idea. Our smart home experts at Chris Lewis use technology from world-leading designers like Control4 to unify your various technologies, to give you maximum flexibility and ease of use.

The best part? If you want the benefits of smart lighting, you don’t have to rewire your home. Control systems can integrate with your current lighting by using smart switches. Smart switches like ones from Lutron and Wemo replace existing switches and wire into your home's power like a dumb switch. Learn more about what a Lutron system can do for you in our blog: "Benefits of a Lutron Lighting System".

What Are the Benefits of Smart Lighting?

Smart lighting is a feature that can transform every room in your home. Here are some key benefits that will improve your everyday life and comfort.

1. Features to Improve Your Smart Home

The number one advantage to using smart lighting systems is convenience. Smart lighting has a long list of practical uses. It will change how you think about lighting your home and is a vital feature if anyone in the household has limited mobility.

Here are some of the most used features of smart lighting:

• Avoiding lots of light and dimmer switches. Rather than adjusting each light fixture manually, you can control your lighting with one button or customise with a mobile app.
• You can set your lights to turn on when they detect motion in certain areas or at specific times of day. So, if you need to go to the bathroom at night, you can do it quietly, without fumbling for switches.
• Setting up "mockupancy" when you’re away from home. This will switch lights on and off at different times to simulate someone the house being occupied.
• Controlling all lights via a touchscreen panel, your smartphone or other devices. You can use these to schedule smart lighting patterns.
• Using voice commands with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to control your lights.
• You can even program your smart lights to turn on/off, or brighten/darken based on time of day and the amount of daylight detected. For example, have inside lights gradually brighten during your morning routine.

2. Custom Lighting Control

Unlike traditional LEDs, smart lights have multiple options for adjusting brightness, tone, and even colour. You can set perfect mood lighting for any occasion, whether you need a calming atmosphere or want to improve immersion in your home cinema.

The freedom for smart lighting to improve your home doesn't stop there. When lighting pathways, pools, or outdoor home cinemas, there's a range of dynamic lighting solutions to create the smart garden of your dreams.

3. Reduce Your Home's Carbon Footprint

In the long run, smart lighting doesn't just introduce aesthetic benefits into your home. It can actually improve your energy efficiency, reducing your carbon footprint and energy bills.

No matter how hard we try to remember, we’ve all left lights on around the home. It’s easy to forget to flip a switch as you leave a room when you're in a rush or distracted. With smart lighting installed, this is no longer a concern. Discreet motion sensors know when a room is vacated, switching off the lights after a certain amount of time has passed.

Smart lighting also works using the latest LEDs. According to energy.gov, these alternatives use around 25 to 80 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. They also last between three and twenty five times longer, saving you money in the long term.

4. Integration With Other Smart Home Technology

Management systems such as those offered by Control4 can unify your lighting with other smart devices. This includes integrating with smart curtains and blinds to maintain even light levels, with security systems to act as a deterrent or alarm, or even with home entertainment systems to improve immersion.

Smart Lighting and Automated Blinds

You can integrate your lighting with smart curtains and blinds to ensure perfect light levels in each room. The system will then switch lights on only when you need them. Plus, you can set your light levels to increase gradually throughout the morning, waking you up gently.

Lighting and Smart Security

By integrating smart lighting with your alarms you can improve the security of your home. Your security system can then trigger your lights if an intruder is detected. Meanwhile, geofencing can be set up to detect when your smartphone is nearby. Your smart lighting could switch on the driveway and porch lights while other systems open the garage door.

Lighting and Smart Home Entertainment

You can even improve your home entertainment by integrating smart lights with a sound system or home cinema. This could be lights that automatically dim when you press play, or bulbs that are placed behind your TV that create a glow to match what's happening on screen.

Can I Upgrade My Smart Lighting?

If you already have smart bulbs and switches, there's a wealth of upgrades available. Major brands are constantly improving their systems with cutting-edge technology.

You can modernise your smart lighting by replacing your control panel or keypad with a more responsive touchscreen. 

Those wanting to get the most from their system can connect smartphones and tablet computers to their smart lighting control. So, even if you aren’t home, you can still communicate with your integrated smart home systems. You can even use voice control to manage your light strips or table lamps.

With smart lighting’s modularity, it’s easy for installers to add additional rooms and features by bolting them onto your existing system.

The variety of smart lighting upgrades available is vast and ever-increasing.

The Future of Smart Lighting

What about the future of smart lighting? In the coming years, we’ll see more smart home tech benefit from machine learning advances. They may even fully automate your home, removing the need for controls. It sounds like science fiction, but we’ll see smart homes learn how homeowners use their lighting, and create automated patterns to reflect this.

For now, there are plenty of systems and upgrades available that could completely change the way you light your home. Smart home tech is only continuing to progress and expand. Setting up the basics within your home will create endless uses, and offer a foundation to build in the future. 

Final Thoughts

Ready to brighten up your home with smart lighting? Make sure you do it right. A trusted installer can offer smart lighting, but before an installation ask yourself the key questions:

• How many rooms am I looking to add smart lighting to?
• Which benefits am I most eager to implement?
• Am I looking to integrate with my other smart tech?
• How will I manage light control solutions in my home?
• Do I know where to find a trusted installer who can service, support and maintain my system for years to come?

Let us bring your new system to life, get in touch with our experts today:

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