Key takeaways
- Smart controls can reduce lighting energy consumption by 40-70% on some real projects.
- Dimming, zoning, and scheduling can often have the greatest cost saving.
- Automation helps to reduce mistakes, improves the life of the fixtures, and has a positive impact when it comes to running daily operations.
- Training staff and keeping track of data is a good way to keep your lighting system operating well in the long-term.
The importance of energy control in baseball stadiums
If you are in charge of a baseball stadium, then you wait for those energy costs in your budget every month. Lighting is usually 40-60% of all electric consumption in outdoor sports facilities, and a primary concern for night games. I once reviewed bills for a mid-size sports facility with a lighting bill in excess of six figures annually.
The tricky part is that you cannot just turn lights down "randomly". Players need to have good visibility, and there are high standards for broadcasters. At the same time, likely you have long pre-game warmups, short practices, and rentals that do not require full output.
Smart controls help you to reduce energy without harming safety or fan experience. The idea is simple , light what you need, when you need it at the right level. Nothing more.
Understanding the lights for baseball stadiums
Smart controls sound like a complicated term, but the idea is pretty simple. You hook your lighting up to controllers, sensors and software to be able to control it from a phone, tablet or touch panel. Instead of one big breaker, you get real control.
The major tools are scheduling, dimming, and zoning. You can have times, create scenes such as "Game" or "Practice," and levels and area-adjusted. In the context of concourses and parking occupancy sensors and photocells to control lights automatically.
Some facilities have small standalone controllers on each pole. Others use a centralized system that is used across the entire stadium. Larger sites often prefer to have cloud access so that the facility manager can check its status from home. I believe the best configurations keep the interface simple enough for a coach to not need a manual to use.
Where smart controls reduce energy consumption in baseball stadiums
The greatest gains appear when you compare game days, practices and emptiness hours. Full output for a televised night game, makes sense. For a weekday practice, with no crowd, it usually does not. At one school that I worked with they managed to cut practice lighting by around 40% and no one complained. Players barely noticed.
Zoning helps a lot. You can light only the infield for infield drills of bullpens and cages. That alone can cut down on the energy consumption several hours a week.
Outdoor Area Lighting resources provides you with a good source you can use as reference to this point. It allows your reader to verify the claim using some document that a reader can check.
Scheduling stopping lights from running all night after a rain out. Sensors used in locker rooms and storage allow for lights to turn off if no one is present. Over the course of a season, those small changes do add up to actual energy savings and reduced operational costs.
Planning a smart control upgrade for your stadium
Before you purchase anything, you need a base line. Count your fixtures, make note of wattage and make an estimated average run hours per week. Pull out a year of your utility bills and get rough energy use computations for the lighting. Even a simple spreadsheet helps you to see where the money goes.
Then set clear goals. Do you want a 30% reduction of energy consumption or are you aiming for a specific payback period? Maybe you also want better control when it comes to tournaments and rentals. I usually ask facility managers: if you could solve but one of the daily headaches with lighting, what would it be? That answer influences the design.
From there, apply control complexity for your size of stadium. A small community placement may begin with simple schedules. A college venue would potentially require complete zoning, dimming, and calendar tools.
Smart controls and LED upgrades: more savings combined
Smart controls can be used with a number of technologies, but when an LED light upgrade is used alongside them, the result is usually the best. LEDs consume less power, react well to dimming and cope well with frequent switching. When you combine lower wattage with smart scheduling, you get a multiplier.
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Picture three scenarios. Old metal halide using manual switches. LED retrofit with straight on/off. LED + Smart Controls , Scenes & Dimming. In actual projects I have observed, the third option will, in many cases, reduce the total lighting energy consumption by over 50% compared to the first.
There is also maintenance. LEDs have a longer lifespan and when you dim them or turn down run hours you make them live even longer. Fewer lift rentals, fewer emergency calls beforehand to big games. That part apparently seldom comes to the first quote, but is important in the course of ten years.
Control features that are important to baseball operations
From a day-to-day standpoint the user-interface makes or breaks the system. If your crew doesn't locate the "Game" button quickly, he or she will go around all of this. I like to do something simple preset: Practice, Game, Cleaning, Off. No jargon.
Remote access is another big one. I have a memory of a facility manager receiving a call at 11 p. m. from a neighbor with lights on. With remote control, he was able to turn everything off , from the comfort of his couch , in less than a minute. All in all, that one night probably saved enough energy to pay a month of program payment fees.
Integration with scoreboards or sound systems are helpful in larger venues, but for many sites, functionality and usability are more important than bells and whistles.
Smart control project: Budgeting and ROI
Costs differ depending on size, number of poles, and networking requirements. A small field may spend a couple thousand dollars. A large stadium could spend much more especially when combined with a full lighting system upgrade. The most important thing is to relate this all back to cost savings and risk reduction.
When you are modeling ROI, include energy costs, demand charges and maintenance. I worked with a district that experienced 4 year payback for controls plus LEDs with around 55% energy savings on lighting. After that, the project was just constantly returning value.
Do not forget incentives. Many utilities have rebates available for controls and for use of LED for sports lighting. Sometimes those programs pay a surprisingly large share of the upfront costs.
Best practice in design and implementation
Good results begin with good design. A qualified lighting professional will be able to model the light levels, uniformity and glare for your baseball field. That is important for safety, but also for the fan experience. Then they pour controls on top of that design, that aren't an afterthought.
Commissioning is where many a project fails. You have to set scenes, schedules, dimming levels with the input of coaches, operations staff and sometimes even from broadcasters. The first version will not perfect. Plan a couple of weeks of fine tuning after real games.
Training is equally as important. Make up a little guide: how to start a game, how to deal with rain delays, who has the right to override schedules. Without that, people fall back to leaving everything on.
Continuous optimization and maintenance
Smart controls are not a "set and forget it" tool. The best-run sites check the reports regularly , once a month. They examine runtime by zone, identify unusual patterns and adjust schedule. One manager told me he found one pole running three extra hours per night because of a wrong manual overrides. Fixing that alone helped decrease energy.
Seasonal tweaks matter too. Early spring games have different start times than midsummer. Playoffs, tournaments and special events often call for custom scene. If you review settings a couple of times a year, you continue to decrease energy consumption for operations.
Keep software and firmware current but plan to update during a off big events. A simple annual check-up with your vendor ensures that the system stays healthy and helps save on surprises.
Optimizing baseball field lights with smart controls
This is where you trade off energy efficiency with safety. Different leagues and ages require different light levels. Smart controls allow you to dial-in presets, where the standards have been met without overdoing it. You preserve the visibility of the batters, while even attempting to conserve energy where it makes sense.
For example, you may have a lower-level preset for youth practice, a higher one for college night games , and a partial-field scene for bullpen work. Your baseball field lights do not need to run at full power when only a corner of the field is active.
Over time, when you change rules or broadcast needs, you can change scenes rather than have to rebuild an entire system. That flexibility promotes long term sustainability and assists you in managing your carbon footprint.
How to get started with smart controls for your stadium
If you want to begin with a simple path, then you should start with an audit. List fixtures and controls and typical schedules Then select one of the field or one of the zones as a pilot. That one small test allows you to view actual energy use data and staff reactions before you take the plunge throughout the entire sports venue.
When you are talking with vendors, you will want to ask about their experience with baseball, support, and training. Ask to see a live demo not just a brochure I think it is fair to ask the question of "What happens on game day, if something fails?" Their answer tells you a lot.
Decide whether to pair controls with new baseball field lights now or later. If you have existing equipment which is nearing end of life, a combination project often makes more sense and can save more energy in a shorter amount of time.
FAQs
How much can smart controls save on energy in baseball stadium?
Many projects report 40-70% lighting energy savings , depending on the baseline equipment, schedules, etc. and how aggressively you dim and zone.
Do I need to replace my existing fixtures to use smart controls?
Not always. Some systems retrofit to existing gear, but combining controls with an LED retrofit generally provides greater long-term cost savings.
Will smart controls have an impact on the quality of light for players and fans?
If designed well, no. Proper dimming curves and scenes maintain light levels and the fan experience.
How long does it take for a smart lighting control system to pay for itself?
I often see 3 , 6 years, less if energy costs are high, or if rebates and maintenance savings are good.
Can I go small and increase my smart controls later?
Yes. Many facilities start with a single field or features, and grow as they gain results and budget grows.
