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GE’s pre-Lightfair Connected Future event probably couldn’t have been held in a better venue, because Manhattan’s trendy Chelsea neighborhood is exploding with the construction of high-end residential towers, stores and other commercial development in the new Hudson Yards. The area will be the home and workplace for thousands of residents and business owners who would be prime customers for the integrated lighting and data systems that GE believes will be the building blocks of its Connected Future concept.
GE used the event to showcase developments on both the commercial and residential fronts. On the commercial side, the company gathered industry thought leaders and influencers from Qualcomm, and the cities of San Diego and Jacksonville to share insights on how intelligent LED lighting is transforming cities, buildings and homes. A GE press release on the event said, “The marriage of lighting and big data provides new ways to drive unprecedented efficiency, utility and experiences that will change the way we navigate our hometown, the way we shop at the grocery store and the way we live everyday life,” said Beth Comstock, president and CEO, GE Business Innovations. “LED lighting is the gateway for connectivity. And, with this connectivity we’re creating Intelligent Environments for cities, buildings and homes. Using existing lighting infrastructure, from streetlights to the light bulb socket in your home, GE is putting the Internet of Things to work in big, exciting ways with the Industrial Internet. This means connecting LED solutions with sensors and state-of-the-art software to unleash new potential for what light can bring to the world.”
San Diego and Jacksonville are working with GE Lighting on trials of software-enabled LED lighting solution. David Graham, deputy COO, City of San Diego, and Jim Robinson, director of Jacksonville’s public works, shared how their cities plan to use this pilot program to analyze data trends to help citizens and visitors find parking in their cities. Robinson also said at the event that he hopes the pilot program will identify new ways to make the downtown area of his city safer.
San Diego recently installed a network of “smart” streetlights that allows city managers to remotely control energy-efficient lighting but to also analyze traffic patterns and provide safer streets with integrated video cameras. GE says that in 2014, San Diego became the first U.S. city to widely use GE’s LED lighting fixtures with LightGrid outdoor wireless controls technology. The technology, deployed on more than 3,000 city street lights, saves the city more than $254,000 annually in energy and maintenance costs. San Diego’s Graham says his city is also looking to use the streetlights to provide free WiFi access to public areas, a quality of life issue that city managers believe will help attract new residents and businesses.
On the residential front, Comstock shared GE’s plans to engineer intelligent, color-changing LED lighting compatible with Apple’s HomeKit during the event. “As we continue to grow our infrastructure business by connecting industrial machines to the Internet, it’s important that consumers experience connected things in easy-to-use, everyday ways. Lighting is how many first experiment with the idea of a smart home, and our insights show that consumers want the ability to control lighting from anywhere, automate lighting and pair lighting with other devices — like sensors, thermostats and door locks.”
Embedded with GE Align technology, GE’s HomeKit-enabled LED bulb takes smart home technology a step further, giving consumers the ability to automate lighting according to the body’s natural sleep circadian rhythm. Lighting impacts our sleep patterns, and GE Align tunes the light spectrum to help promote the body’s natural sleep cycle by controlling the blue concentration of light output. In the morning, GE Align produces a bright, bluer tone that suppresses the body’s production of melatonin, and in the evening it produces an amber light that mimics candlelight.
