While the world is driving toward sustainability, little has been done to reduce energy consumption—one of the most significant aspects of accomplishing sustainability objectives. Over the years, this factor has been overlooked in power, guzzling large infrastructures like industrial sites, ports and shipping terminals, rail yards, airports, highways, and warehousing and manufacturing facilities, wherein energy systems are functioning round the clock. Evidently, lighting design has rapidly emerged as an art and a science—a strategic investment. However, the biggest barrier to innovation has been the legacy technologies. “The high-mast lighting industry has been and is still dominated by the 1000 W and 1500 W high-intensity discharge, high-pressure sodium, or metal-halide technology to light up the yards, which is approaching over 60 years in legacy,” says Brad D. Lurie, CEO of Bright Light Systems (BLS). This is precisely what BLS intends to change. BLS is an innovator when it comes to automating lighting controls and asset management for lighting larger infrastructures.

BLS provides energy efficient lighting technology of LED integrated with wireless control capabilities and an energy management platform. “We are the first company to design and develop the high-mast luminaires that utilized light emitting plasma (LEP) as a light source,” states Lurie. We then transitioned our lighting technology platform to light emitting diodes (LED) in 2016. BLS’ high-quality controls and sensors aim to enhance interaction between the lights, the driver of the technology and the controller, and also automate the turning on or off of the lights as required. Legacy lighting systems involve turning lights on and off with the aid of photosensors and contactors—which have a high-failure rate and are likely to deliver faulty operations leading to high energy costs. “Our Bright Light Management System (BLMS) successfully replaces the photosensors with accurate astronomical clocks, which pinpoints the geo-coordinates of the location and provides an insight into the daily sunset and sunrise schedule through a Google API. This enables users to consume comparatively less energy by accurately calculating the timing of sunset and sunrise,” he explains.

BLS has also incorporated a high-end asset management platform into the BLMS, which involves monitoring the health of lights and controllers at regular intervals, assisting professionals to schedule appropriate measures, and restore the health of the overall system. BLS leverages the cloud technology that allows putting controllers on a fixture that interacts wirelessly to a gateway, which further connects over a network or cellular gateway up into the cloud while storing information on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This open architecture eliminates the complexities involved in the maintenance of third-party license agreements and allows access to the system using one common UI, irrespective of the geographical location.
BLS had recently retrofitted the lighting system for Georgia Ports Authority, at its Ocean Terminal facility, who required uniform lighting while conducting measurement activities on the ground. BLS installed lights with controllers that helped the client to check the intensity of the lights and adjust them according to the activities undertaken. The port was subdivided into 12 zones, where astronomical clocks and dimming profiles were used to ensure accurate timings for turning the lights on or off. Most importantly, the intensity of the lights could now be increased in places where the Customs and Border of Protection undertake patrols during nighttime, provisioning a safer environment. “With our lighting system and controls, the client has managed to save at least 80 percent of energy consumption on an average per month,” exclaims Lurie.

With industry veterans onboard, BLS is currently operating in six countries, while looking for short and mid-term developments on their projects. As an early innovator in the energy management space, BLS aims to extend their patent portfolio and expand more into the maritime port and airport space.