The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. is more than just an office building. It serves as a living lab and a testament to the organization’s commitment to its own LEED standards. So when the USGBC team sought out a lighting and plug load controls solution to help it stay within the rigorous LEED Platinum standard, it turned to Legrand.

USGBC selected Legrand’s Wattstopper Digital Lighting Management (DLM) system to ensure it would improve energy efficiency and meet their needs. Wattstopper DLM offered an innovative and occupant-centric approach to lighting and plug load controls. It is an intelligent, distributed control system that automatically maximizes lighting levels and energy efficiency throughout a building.

“The DLM system offered the best opportunity to meet our energy efficiency and sustainability goals,” said Melanie Mayo-Rodgers, USGBC Facility Manager. “It allows for flexibility, offers reliability, lighting control efficiency and is sensor driven based on occupancy to lower electrical consumption and achieve additional energy savings.”

Among the benefits the headquarters saw were a 34 percent reduction in energy use in the first year.  Real time collection and analysis of data allows USGBC to quickly address areas where energy efficiency requires improvement. It also enables remote troubleshooting through flexible digital components that can be programmed via computer, handheld wireless programmers, or at the device level.

The system provides USGBC with the ability to schedule specific shutdown schedules in areas of the office that do not have sensors. This allows users to reduce energy waste when spaces are not being utilized. Integration with the building management system allows occupancy sensors to maximize energy savings by controlling heating and cooling in vacant spaces.