Video Interview: Danny Yu, CEO of Daintree Networks

Up to 40% of total energy spending in commercial buildings is in lighting.  Controlled lighting can save 40-70% of that energy.  My previous interview with Jeremy Stieglitz of Redwood Systems revealed that networked lighting is possible for new construction, but what about lighting in existing buildings, the so-called retrofit market?

In this interview, Danny Yu, the CEO of Daintree Networks, discusses the future of lighting control for the retrofit market.  Daintree’s commercial wireless lighting control products can provide a one to two year payback for customers.  Energy saving solutions includes occupancy sensing, light dimming in response to natural daylight, and active light scheduling.

Yu is proud of Daintree’s use of the Zigbee open standard to foster proliferation of this energy saving solution.  Over a dozen partner companies are responsible for producing the light sensors that Daintree customers use.  Yu points to Ethernet and Wifi as examples of standards that propelled an industry and enabled best-in-class devices.  Yu’s hope is that the adoption of open standard will encourage more buildings to adopt active lighting control and start saving energy.  How much energy can your building save?

http://vimeo.com/26754894

Connie Kwan is a GreenTech Marketing professional based in Silicon Valley, CA.  She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School.  Follow her on Twitter @ConnieMKwan.