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Lighting controls company Redwood Systems has done a number of installations in data centers.(Credit:Redwood Systems)
To improve the efficiency and control over commercial lighting, Redwood Systems plugs light fixtures into the computer network.
The company's direct current lighting control system is being used by a number of data center customers, including Facebook, which installed them in its Prineville, Oregon data center. Facebook intends to use them as it expands in the Oregon site and in another data center in North Carolina, Redwood Systems chief marketing officer Sam Klepper said yesterday.
Efficient LED lighting is an active area for green-technology start-ups like Redwood Systems because lighting upgrades can have rapid return on investments. Redwood Systems doesn't make light fixtures themselves but a control system for managing lights.
In the case of Facebook, the company is using Redwood Systems' controls with LED light fixtures for improved efficiency. The other reason was what Klepper called "business intelligence," or using sensors to automatically adjust light for when people enter a data center aisle and to monitor the temperature at different points.
The Redwood system uses a rack-mounted server which supplies power to light fixtures through direct current, rather than the alternating current used in buildings. Having a low-voltage direct current line to lights, using Ethernet cables, improves the energy efficiency, Klepper said.
In addition to converting from AC to DC, the Redwood central control can gather information from sensors, placed on the ceiling, or cameras and control lighting based on motion of light levels, for example. There is also a Web-based application for setting schedules and monitoring energy use.
If a company is upgrading lighting, the return on investment in a lighting control system can be instant or up to five years depending on conditions and power prices, Klepper said. Much of the energy savings comes from the installation, he added. Because the controls use Ethernet and direct current, some equipment, such as junction boxes and relays, can be avoided and the labor costs are lower.
"Data centers are more about functionality and productivity than strict return on investment. They're willing to pay for functionality that harder to define, like getting an alert because the temperature is too high," he said.
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