Copyright May 1997, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, all rights reserved.

Revised 4/25/97
A P P L I C A T I O N N O T E
An In-Depth Examination of an EnergyEfficiency Technology
OccupancyControls for Lighting
Summary
Occupancy sensors-also called motion,or personnel sensors- react to variables like
heat and/or motion by turning lightson or off. They turn lights on when peo-ple are
detected and, after an adjust-able predetermined period during whichpeople are not
detected, turn them off.While they have potential to reducelighting energy
consumption by 35 to 45percent or more, their savings and ap-plicability are very site
specific.The two primary types of occupancysensors are ultrasonic and passive infrared. Passive infrared (PIR) sensorstypically detect occupants body heat.Triggering
occurs when a change in in-frared levels is detected, such as whena warm object
moves in or out of view of one of the sensors eyes. Ultrasonic(US) sensors, by
contrast, continuouslyemit and sample inaudible sound wavesand listen for a change
in frequency of the reflected sound.There are two basic mounting configu-rations for
occupancy sensors. Ceiling-mounted sensors have an independentcontroller and/or
power supply. Theymay be mounted high on a wall or in acorner, as well as on the
ceiling. Wall-box sensors are primarily designed asretrofit replacements for common
wallswitches. Both ceiling-mounted andwallbox sensors are available with ei-ther PIR or
ultrasonic sensing units.The performance and reliability of occu-pancy sensors are tied to
a host of fac-tors, including the shape and size of aroom, the installers experience,
andinteractions with ballasts, lamps and