Glossary

Commercial lighting and controls, in plain English

Definitions written for the people who actually specify, fund and install these systems. Every entry says what the term means in a commercial building, how it differs from things it gets confused with, and where it applies.

All terms

Power & Low-Voltage

Protocols & Networks

Controls Architecture

Data & Integration

Codes & Standards

Financing & Incentives

Cybersecurity & Risk

Roles & Commissioning

Roles, Delivery, and Commissioning

Commissioning (Lighting Controls)

The owner-led, independent quality process (ASHRAE Guideline 0) — distinct from startup, which programs and tests controls against the sequence of operations.

Roles, Delivery, and Commissioning

Dealer vs Manufacturer vs Installer vs Engineer of Record

The four confused roles on lighting projects — who makes, who advises, who installs, who stamps — mapped plainly. Bryte Light is strictly the dealer.

Roles, Delivery, and Commissioning

The AIA-recognized preconstruction advisory role: selection, constructability, cost and schedule advice without responsibility for contract documents.

Financing and Incentives

Utility Rebates

Cash incentives that cut net installed cost of qualifying lighting — most require DLC-listed products and pre-approval before purchase.

Financing and Incentives

The energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction — terminated for construction beginning after June 30, 2026; pre-deadline projects remain claimable.

Financing and Incentives

TX-PACE (Texas Property Assessed Clean Energy)

Texas's property-assessed clean energy financing: long-term funding for lighting and controls via a voluntary senior-lien assessment that transfers on sale.

Codes, Standards, and Metrics

Measurement and Verification (M&V)

The IPMVP-governed discipline of proving energy savings against an adjusted baseline — because savings can never be measured directly.

Codes, Standards, and Metrics

UL 924 Emergency Lighting

The safety listing behind emergency lighting: UL 924 devices force full brightness on power loss regardless of controls, meeting NFPA 101 egress rules.

Codes, Standards, and Metrics

DLC Qualified Products List (QPL)

The DLC's third-party-verified product registry that gates most North American utility lighting rebates — the standard first procurement screen.

Codes, Standards, and Metrics

Title 24 Part 6

California's energy code — the most demanding lighting-controls code in the U.S., with certified acceptance testing required before sign-off.

Codes, Standards, and Metrics

The model energy code for U.S. commercial lighting: LPD budgets by space type plus mandatory controls. Adopted editions vary by jurisdiction.

Data and Smart-Building Integration

Space Utilization Analytics

Continuous sensor-derived measurement of how space is actually used — not badge or booking proxies. Requires contractual data-ownership terms.

Data and Smart-Building Integration

Sensor-equipped, always-powered luminaires doubling as a building-wide data fabric for occupancy, environmental and energy telemetry.

Data and Smart-Building Integration

BMS Integration

Connecting lighting controls to the BMS so occupancy and energy data drive HVAC and supervisory functions — validated per project, never plug-and-play.

Data and Smart-Building Integration

A documented public interface for third-party software to read and command building systems. Verify openness at the application and licensing layer.

Cybersecurity and Risk

BACnet Secure Connect (BACnet/SC)

The encrypted BACnet transport: TLS 1.3, certificate-based device authentication, and an owner-controlled certificate authority.

Protocols and Networks

The Ethernet/UDP implementation of ASHRAE 135 — the open protocol dominating building automation. BTL listing is the conformance proof.

Protocols and Networks

The analog one-way dimming workhorse: a wire pair carrying 0-10 volts to set light output. Dimming only — no data, feedback or addressability.

Protocols and Networks

The DALI-2 extension standardizing in-luminaire energy, diagnostics and asset data on the driver — every fixture an IoT-ready data node.

Protocols and Networks

The IEC 62386 certified two-way lighting-control standard: individually addressable devices, verified multi-vendor interoperability, BMS gateways.

Controls Architecture

Lighting Control Panel

The centralized relay/dimmer cabinet behind traditional shutoff, scheduling and emergency override — and the migration path to networked control.

Controls Architecture

Luminaire-Level Lighting Controls (LLLC)

NLC with sensors and controller factory-embedded in every fixture. DLC/NEEA 2020: 63% average savings with LLLC versus 35% without.

Controls Architecture

Networked Lighting Controls (NLC)

Luminaires, sensors and controllers on a digital network — occupancy, daylight, scheduling, zoning and monitoring. DLC-studied savings of 47-49%, site-specific.

Power and Low-Voltage

Class 4 Fault-Managed Power

The NEC 2023 Article 726 category for high-power delivery over small cable with millisecond fault interruption — the code path beyond Class 2 limits.

Power and Low-Voltage

The NEC Article 725 power-limited circuit class (100VA, typically 30V or less) that can often run without conduit — subject to the AHJ.

Power and Low-Voltage

LED Driver Centralization

Moving LED power conversion out of fixtures into shared, serviceable, redundant supplies. Drivers are never eliminated — they relocate.

Power and Low-Voltage

IEEE 802.3bt (PoE++)

The 2018 PoE standard delivering up to 90W at the switch (about 71W at the device) over all four cable pairs — the standard that made PoE lighting practical.

Power and Low-Voltage

48V Connected Lighting

48V DC power and control over two-conductor 16/2 or 18/2 cable, with drivers centralized into serviceable, redundant power supplies. Not PoE.

Power and Low-Voltage

Low-Voltage Lighting

The umbrella term for lighting below line voltage under NEC Article 411 — spanning PoE and 48V connected architectures, which are not interchangeable.

Power and Low-Voltage

Power over Ethernet (PoE) Lighting

Lighting powered and controlled over Cat5/Cat6 Ethernet cable under IEEE 802.3 PoE standards, making every fixture an IP-addressable node.

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Still not sure which applies to your building?

We advise before we quote. Tell us what you are working on and we will tell you which of these actually matter for your project.

Talk to Bryte Light