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Where Do SOCAL Homeowners Want Light Control? Everywhere!

Posted by Jimm Reifsnyder

Dec 17, 2013 4:30:00 AM

Where do SOCAL homeowners want light control everywhere

Once upon a time, a “light control system” meant that a homeowner got up out of his chair, walked around the house, and turned off unnecessary lights manually. Those days are long gone. Today’s homeowner wants control over the lighting in every area of her home. And she doesn’t just want to turn lights on or off: She wants to control the ambience and have the lighting match the activity in any given room.

If you design, install or specify lighting systems, you can help your clients get the lighting—and control—they want for every situation in any room. And you may even be able to help them find solutions for situations they hadn’t thought of. And we can help. Here are just a few of the applications we can help you offer your clients:

Home Theater/Family Room

With a light and shade control system, a wall dimmer or a wireless control, your clients can turn their family room into a home theater experience. They’ll be able to dim lights to the perfect level, recreating that moment when the lights go down and the show begins in the theatre.

Home Office

If your client is planning a home office, you can help him make business hours more enjoyable, productive and efficient with built-in light and shade controls.  He’ll be able to easily dim lamps or overhead lights for any task, or to control natural light to reduce glare on the computer screen by adjusting the height of window shades at the touch of a button.

Kitchen

Help clients make the heart of their home more versatile. Show them how the use of dimmers or a total control system, can make the kitchen a space that’s ideal for cooking, dining, entertaining, or even doing homework. You can help them set the perfect light level for any activity and control daylight with automated shades. You can even give them the option of adding temperature control to maximize comfort.

Basement

Whether your clients plan to use their basement as a playroom, a storage area, an entertainment space or a combination of all of them, you can help them create the perfect light control solution. Dimmers can help set the right light level and occupancy sensors can help them save energy and money by ensuring lights are turned off automatically when the room is unoccupied.

Utility Room

Speaking of saving energy, how many times do homeowners leave the lights on in seldom used rooms like a utility room. With an occupancy or vacancy sensor you can help customers save by ensuring that lights will turn off automatically after a room has been vacated.

And More

You can offer clients solutions for children’s rooms, guest rooms, bathrooms and even special solutions for families who have elderly family members living with them.

We’ve got great Lutron solutions for each of the areas mentioned here—and more. Give me a call at 310-948-9818, or shoot me a note at jimm@westernecs.com. We’ll be happy to help you find the right lighting control solutions for any of your Southern California residential clients!

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Topics: energy control, energy savings, Southern California residential lighting, whole home lighting solutions

How Much Control Do Your Clients Want In Their Southern CA Homes?

Posted by Jimm Reifsnyder

Dec 10, 2013 4:00:00 AM

How much control do your clients want in their Southern CA homeIt used to be that if your clients wanted to control the lighting levels in their homes, they’d have to adjust the dimmer switches in each room individually. Now you can give them the ability to control all their lights from anywhere in the house they choose.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Lutron solutions allow homeowners to control a lot more than just lights throughout their Southern California homes, from wherever they are in their home—or even remotely through their iPhone or iPad.

Here’s just some of the features and capabilities you can offer:

  • Create just the right light for any occasion in any room with a Maestro© dimmer. These dimmers work with incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent or LED bulbs.
  • Stylishly (and wirelessly) control daylight throughout the home with Lutron Shade controls. Choose from Venetian blinds, Roman shades, draperies, Kirbé® vertical drapery systems, roller shades or tensioned shades.
  • Control the temperature in your home automatically. You can install up to four wireless temperature sensors in different rooms of a home where the owners want to measure the temperature. The sensors average the temperature and communicate to the HVAC system to adjust heating or cooling.
  • Tie the home security system in to other systems. With security system integration, one button press will arm the home security system, and will also roll back temperature, turn lights off and lower shades.
  • Control everything (lights, shades, appliances, temperature) from anywhere with a keypad in the home or with an Apple or Android device.

You’ve got lots of options to offer! So which one is right for your clients? That depends on how much control they want in their Southern California home. And to help you figure out which solutions meet your clients’ specific needs, Lutron has even created a helpful control assessment tool that you can download for free here.

If you have additional questions about whole home lighting and energy control solutions for your customers, please shoot me a note at jimm@westernecs.com!

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Topics: Lighting Control, Southern California residential lighting, residential home control integration

Do Home Lighting Solutions Increase Value?

Posted by Jimm Reifsnyder

Nov 12, 2013 4:30:00 AM

Do lighting solutions increase valueHelping clients see the value in a coordinated lighting solution is a challenge all lighting reps face. Here are some quick facts to help you the next time a client asks the all-too-familiar question: Is this really a valuable investment?

If savings are a part of the value equation, a good lighting solution is definitely a big plus. Lighting alone can account for up to 20 percent of a household’s yearly electricity usage. And if you have clients who are concerned about the bigger energy-savings picture, consider this:

If every home in the U.S. replaced just two standard light switches with Lutron dimmers, the overall savings would total $1.5 billion annually in electricity!

Sophisticated lighting and energy control systems also add to the desirability (and value) of individual homes when it’s time to sell. In the last few years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in “smart” homes. A lot of the technology is still fairly new, so you won’t find a lot of empirical evidence about how this technology impacts home prices. But there are some pretty clear trends in the housing industry that show people asking for the ability to control heating, cooling, shades, lighting, watering and electronic devices with the touch of a button (or even remotely) in their new homes. It stands to reason that homes with these features will command a higher price on the used market as well.

That’s one of the reasons we’re so pleased to represent Lutron’s residential lighting and energy control solutions in the Southern California market. Whether your clients are looking for single-room solutions or whole-home solutions, we can help you provide them with a wide range of options that will make their homes more comfortable, safe and energy efficient. Click here to get an idea of the broad array of home lighting and energy control options you’ll be able to present to your clients.

If you’d like to discuss other ways you can help your customers add value to their homes, please shoot me a note, and let’s put together a solution that you and your customers will be happy with.

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Topics: adding value through lighting and energy solutions, Southern California residential lighting, whole home lighting and energy solutions

Thinking Inside (And Outside) Of the Southern California Lighting Box

Posted by Jimm Reifsnyder

Apr 9, 2013 4:30:00 PM

Sensors thinking inside and outside the boxIf you’re responsible for the design, specification or installation of commercial or residential lighting systems, you know that your customers are increasingly thinking “outside the box” when it comes to solutions for their homes and businesses. Nobody, it seems, is content to simply “turn on the lights.”

Commercial and residential clients alike want solutions that offer more than illumination. They want solutions that automatically control lighting, window coverings and heating/cooling systems. And they’re after more than simple automation. They want to create environments that are more comfortable and more conducive to productivity. And they also want energy efficiency that is easier on the environment—and on their wallets.

That means if you want to meet your customers’ needs—whether they are commercial or residential customers—you need to provide “out-of-the-box” solutions that push the boundaries of conventional light and energy systems. But doing that will also require some “inside-the-box” thinking, because inside the “box” is where you’ll find the item that drives a lot of this capability: sensors.

It may seem obvious, but lights and window coverings and heating/cooling systems that automatically adjust still need something to tell them when to make an adjustment. It used to be: “Last one out, please turn off the lights!” Now the last one out turns off the lights (opens or closes the shades, and turns down the heat) without lifting a finger. And that’s a good thing, because people are notoriously bad at remembering to do those things—resulting in a lot of wasted energy.

Sensors can now track usage of rooms and automatically adjust the environment of the room according to need. Even if your customers forget to turn off the lights, the sensors in the systems you install for them won’t forget.

What’s really great for individuals in our industry (and of course, their customers) is that sensors today are more reliable—and affordable—than ever. And, yet, despite that, there is still a huge opportunity for both commercial and residential installation.

It’s not surprising that Lutron is leading the way in incorporating sensors into their lighting and energy control systems. They are even offering a Sensor Layout and Tuning Service to ensure that their wired or wireless daylight sensors and occupancy sensors will help projects achieve energy-savings goals. They even provide a detailed sensor layout for the installing contractor to use. And the service also includes up to two visits after installation to adjust the system for optimal results.

Are you thinking both “inside-and-outside-the-box” when it comes to lighting and energy controls for your customers? Are you taking advantage of the opportunities that sensors create to deliver the kind of systems your clients want?

If you’d like more information about incorporating sensors in commercial solutions, shoot Matt Sedlock a note. If you’re interested in residential solutions, send a note to me, Jimm Reifsnyder.

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Topics: Southern California Lighting Solutions, southern california commercial lighting, Energy Efficiency, Southern California residential lighting

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This blog provides the latest news and information about Western Lighting & Energy Controls, its product lines, and other information to the lighitng industry.

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