As 2025 comes to an end, the editors of EC&M are looking back at some of the most popular content from the year. This article presents five of the best lighting & control articles that were featured in either the magazine or our Illumination Insider newsletter (which you can sign up for here). Scroll through the list see which lighting & control articles were the most popular with readers in 2025. This year's highlights include a range of topics such as hybrid lighting control systems, horticultural lighting, health care lighting, and more.
The Future of Lighting Control: How Hybrid Systems are Changing the Game
This article by Mercier, P.Eng., a strategic marketing manager for IoT and connected systems for Cooper Lighting Solutions, explains the benefits of hybrid lighting control systems. In the article, Mercier outlines four key benefits of hybrid lighting controls for electrical contractors and engineers. Discover what those benefits are by reading the article here.
Learn About the DLC’s New Lighting Controls & HVAC Integration Toolkit
In April of this year, the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) published a new resource meant to open the door to better communication and coordination between professionals who work in the often-siloed spaces of commercial networked lighting controls (NLC) and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Levin Nock, Senior Technical Manager for the DesignLights Consortium, created a quiz to both test and teach EC&M readers on the NLC-HVAC Integration Toolkit and the benefits it’s designed to deliver. Take the quiz here!
The DLC’s Horticultural Lighting QPL- What You Need to Know
Another piece about DLC resources, this article by Kasey Holland, Technical Manager of the Horticultural and Solid-State Lighting Programs at the DLC, explored how DLC’s Horticultural Lighting Program aimed to accelerate widespread adoption of high performance and energy-saving LED technology. The information in this article was particularly valuable because, as Kasey wrote, "Valued at $7.8 billion last year, the global controlled environment agriculture (CEA) market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.2% and expected to reach $22 billion by 2033, according to a recent market research report. With lighting as the largest operational cost in CEA facilities, opportunities abound for indoor growers to save energy and reduce expenses with the right lights." Read the full article here.
Lighting Trends in the Health Care Space
Patricia Rizzo, the Senior Healthcare Product Marketing Manager for Kenall Manufacturing, guided readers through trends in the health care lighting space. As Patricia said, "Health care environments are complex. The requirements for lighting a patient room, an operating room, an MRI suite, or a behavioral health dayroom vary significantly. Across all disciplines, however, lighting dedicated to the health and well-being of those occupying and working in each of these spaces is paramount. Successful installations are facilitated when contractors take full advantage of the support that lighting system manufacturers provide." Learn more about health care lighting by reading the full article here.
The Value of Dimming
Another piece by Levin Nock, this article explores the benefits of dimming. Put simply by Levin, "It’s easy to see the energy benefits of this: the more an LED fixture is dimmed, the less electricity it uses." Learn more about dimming in this article here.
About the Author
Michael Morris
Michael Morris is Editor for EC&M. He is also Editor for EC&M's sister publications Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing. Email him at [email protected].