The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that one-third of all LED energy savings by 2030 will come from the use of lighting controls. Lighting distributor personnel who can knowledgably pair controls with LED upgrades will have a competitive advantage and be poised for increased profitability.
The lighting industry is undergoing a transformational change. Demand for lighting controls, including advanced networked control systems, is steadily increasing, as controls technology improves and becomes less expensive, and as intelligent lighting, tunable-white lighting and the Internet of Things emerge in the marketplace.
In response to current lighting industry trends, the National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors (NAILD) has expanded its educational offerings to include the Lighting Specialist-Controls (LS-C) Training Program.
This training course is now available to IMARK members through IMARK University. IMARK members can register for the training by going to the “Training, NAILD Training LS-C” section of the IMARK website. The discounted rate for IMARK member students to take the course is $499. IMARK members who are also members of NAILD pay $399. Others interested in accessing the training pay $699.
The LS-C training is the latest addition to NAILD’s LS online training that is available to IMARK members. LS I (Lighting Fundamentals) and LS II (Advanced Selling Skills) are also available. Individuals are required to have completed and passed the LS I program prior to enrolling in LS-C. The LS I course provides information about the fundamentals of lighting and lighting products to help employees sell lighting products more efficiently, strengthen customer relationships and grow sales.
“NAILD began discussing LS-C more than two years ago as the next natural step for our educational offerings,” said Becky Phillips, of Professional Lighting and Supply Inc. in Greensboro, North Carolina and NAILD’s immediate past president. “The NAILD board felt that we wanted to continue to offer timely, relevant education for the industry and our members. We knew that controls were on the horizon of the evolution of lighting technology. Broad acceptance of control technology goes hand-in-hand with LED advances. We wanted to make sure there was control education to meet the needs of the industry.”
Lighting distributors can leverage LS-C to create effective employees who will know how to select the right control strategy, develop a control narrative and apply products to applications.
“Inside and outside sales personnel, customer service representatives and lighting specifiers will all benefit from control education and knowing how controls fit into their customers’ and clients’ lighting plans for now and the future,” Phillips said.
A brand-agnostic and technology-neutral course, LS-C trains lighting professionals to speak to customers and suppliers about lighting controls with competence and confidence. The self-paced online program is supported by workbook exercises, hands-on activities, online quizzes, in-house coaching and a final exam.
Lighting professionals who complete LS-C will be able to:
- Identify control strategies and match them to applications.
- Build packages of equipment that satisfy these strategies.
- Identify methods used to connect devices within a system.
- Predict how various light sources, including LED, behave while being controlled.
- Design a lighting control solution.
- Locate utility rebates.
- Participate in the commissioning process.
“The lighting controls market is expanding, creating additional sales opportunities for lighting distributors,” said Robin Watt, NAILD president. “We all need to get up to speed on this new technology in order to effectively serve our customers.”
LS-C training includes four modules:
- Introduction to Lighting Control: An overview of the fundamentals and goals of lighting control, popular control strategies defined by different inputs and outputs, control zoning and the elements of an effective lighting control solution.
- Controlling Light Sources: A discussion of common control effects of switching and dimming and their effect on the behavior on incandescent/halogen, compact and linear florescent, induction, HID, LED and light-emitting plasma sources.
- Lighting Control Equipment: An extensive discussion of popular types of lighting control equipment including occupancy sensors, control panels, light sensors, dimming controls, intelligent control and device communication and protocols.
- Design and Application: A step by step presentation of the process of delivering lighting control strategies to spaces, covering owner requirements, control narrative, design development and commissioning.
The challenge to competing in the growing market of controls is staying on top of the many strategies, technologies and applications and NAILD’s LS-C can help you do just that, according to Phillips.
“We think that education of industry personnel is extremely important,” Phillips said, adding that basic lighting knowledge is important to understand controls and their benefit.
For more information about NAILD’s LS training programs, visit NAILD.org/training.