St. James Cathedral in Seattle has used Lumenpulse’s innovative, patented Lumentalk technology to upgrade its exterior lighting system to flexible, high-performance LED luminaires with digital control. (Photo Courtesy of Lumenpulse)

St. James Cathedral in Seattle has used Lumenpulse’s innovative, patented Lumentalk technology to upgrade its exterior lighting system to flexible, high-performance LED luminaires with digital control. Lumentalk, a power line communication technology, uses existing electrical infrastructure as a bi-directional carrier for lighting control data, allowing the creation of networkable lighting systems, without the cost and disruption of having to re-wire for data.

"The St. James Cathedral is a landmark project that showcases the impact Lumentalk can have on older buildings and structures,” said François-Xavier Souvay, President and CEO of Lumenpulse. "With Lumentalk, the Cathedral was able to quickly modernize its lighting system, increase flexibility and eliminate future maintenance issues, while still keeping installation costs low. It’s a real digital control facilitator for structures like this,” he said.

Designed by Eluned Lighting, the new lighting system at St. James uses a range of Lumenpulse’s high-performance LED luminaires, including Lumenarea, the company’s new family of street and pole-top luminaires, wall-mount fixtures, bollards and light columns.

“Lumenpulse offers smooth, even light, efficacy, quality and variety, and with their luminaires we were able to achieve a cohesive, integrated design: I got an attractive pole and pendant from Lumenarea; brilliant beams from Lumenbeam; and could run power and control over existing cables with Lumentalk,” said Linet Henry of Eluned Lighting. “It was invaluable to be able to use the existing wiring for cutting-edge control.”

Launched in 2012, Lumentalk has since been specified for a number of high-profile projects,  bringing LED and digital control to the Blatnik Bridge in Minnesota; eliminating costly annual maintenance at the Buckley Recital Hall at Amherst College; and creating a connected lighting system with over 500 luminaires at the Next shop in Rugby, UK.