Acuity Brands acquires developer of wireless lighting controls

Acuity Brands, Inc., Conyers, Ga., has acquired the assets of Adura Technologies, Inc., San Francisco, a developer of wireless controls and energy management solutions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, San Francisco-based Adura has been a developer of radio frequency (RF) mesh networking technology that allows individual light fixtures to communicate in a wireless mesh network with switches, sensors and system management software. The ZigBee wireless standard-based technology enables energy-saving control solutions while eliminating the cost of using wires to network all of the devices in the system. Wireless controls technology improves the economics and feasibility of installing lighting controls in a wide variety of new construction and renovation projects.

Vernon Nagel, Acuity’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release announcing the acquisition, “The addition of these Adura Technologies solutions continues the expansion of the breadth and depth of our wireless lighting controls portfolio, which includes nWifi technology, the ROAM streetlight monitoring system and the FIDO emergency monitoring system, and it further enhances our strategy of integrated and intelligent lighting and controls solutions.

“Adura’s simple-to-use wireless technology coupled with our broad luminaire portfolio, Sensor Switch occupancy sensors and Lighting Control & Design (LC&D) system management software will allow for the creation of intelligent lighting systems that are simple to use while generating greater energy savings for our customers. We see wireless technology extending to almost all applications, including parking garages, industrial locations, retail settings, educational institutions, healthcare facilities and commercial office space.”

According to the press release announcing the acquisition, Adura systems are currently installed in 7 million square feet of commercial space, including 4 million square feet of covered parking facilities, contributing to a documented lighting energy reduction in lighting system renovations as high as 80%. According to U.S. Department of Energy figures, there are estimated to be 36 million covered parking lighting fixtures in the United States. New state and local energy codes being adopted based on updated standards will require covered parking lighting to use occupancy-based, multi-level lighting controls. Conversion of the installed base for covered parking using a solution combining lighting fixtures and wireless controls equates to a potential market opportunity valued between $15 and $20 billion. Details