12½ Lighting Predictions for 2025

“In the coming year, we will see a heightened focus on product vitality and service excellence driving customer decisions. Embedded controls will play a crucial role in this technological evolution, as customers focus on enhancing operational efficiency and enabling real-time decision-making. These advancements will not only boost productivity for our customers but also for ourselves, leading to greater overall success.”

Sach Sankpal, President
Acuity Brands Lighting and Controls

“Based on education and standards trends, we'll continue engaging in convergences where smart systems, AI, and sustainability inspire how to create adaptive lighting environments responsive to human behavior and energy efficiency needs. Uniting lighting products with other appliances and devices under one control system will accelerate this transition."

"The industry will prioritize honing in on goals for circular economy principles and decarbonization efforts into clearer paths of information-sharing. Education will become even more crucial for lighting professionals to expertly navigate these technological and professional advancements.”

Colleen Harper, CEO & Executive Director
Illuminating Engineering Society

“I believe that 2025 will be a year to really test the humanity of our industry. With global unrest, struggles within the American economy and supply chain, we will be forced to streamline in ways that can put numbers ahead of people. In our small but mighty section of the AEC industry, we know so many of our colleagues and have a particularly well-rounded contact list of people from the various sectors within lighting."

"My prediction is that external influences will force a reckoning with ourselves and how we move through industry systems we have in place. Procurement, hiring, business development and more will have to adjust to the new political and more personalized business climate we are entering.”

Lauren Dandridge, Principal
Chromatic

“The LED Age Out business will become more relevant in 2025 due to the fact the LED boards installed 8-10 years ago will begin burning out or going past their L70 (useful life) creating the need for major capital upgrades. The movement of Right to Repair will become relevant in the industry as well, creating an opening for NAILD distributors to have major value in the built environment market.”

Cory Schneider, President
Lighting Unlimited

“As we move into 2025, the construction economy will experience some new signs of growth in Southern California! The demand for integrated controls in luminaires will drive further growth across our major lighting and control lines."

"I also predict further consolidation in agent territories along with expansion of other non-lighting divisions into materials and other electrical categories. The agent will continue to offer greater service packages to include post-construction services on control and lighting systems. This will deepen the relationship with the end-user and expand the value of the agent more than ever."

"Lastly, we will see more consolidation of lighting and electrical manufacturers as well as several shutting down their operations. Overall, the lighting business should be in good hands!”

Tom Thomson, CEO - Founder
SCI Lighting Solutions

“We all have heard about AI being a very powerful tool, and it is, in fact, very powerful. I predict the lighting industry will help the AI industry develop accurate lighting models that will answer just about any question the public wants to know about lighting design."

"The problem is that the public will have so much information, some of which will be practical and useful, but some that will be highly technical and scientific, that they won't know what to do with it. This means they will still need to engage a Lighting Consultant to realize a lighting design successfully.”

Giulio Pedota, Partner
Schuler Shook

“2025 will be a watershed year for standards-based lighting controls and interoperability. Multi-vendor systems that seamlessly integrate and connect with other building systems to unlock new value streams have long been a challenge for the U.S. lighting industry."

"However, recent advancements in standards, education, and product availability—driven by industry specifications like Bluetooth Mesh, DALI-2, D4i, and Casambi—have made significant strides. Interfaces to bridge devices across different standards are now available, with some vendors experiencing rapid growth. While challenges remain, the essential components for broader adoption of these technologies are finally coming together.”

Gabe Arnold, Senior Systems Engineer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

“As AI continues to advance, 2025 may mark the beginning of its significant impact on lighting design calculations and modeling. Machine learning offers the potential to enhance accuracy, predict outcomes in more complex environments, and reduce the time needed for computational tasks. As the technology evolves, it will empower designers to focus more on creativity and innovation while relying on AI for technical rigor.”

Jill Cody, Principal
Dark Light Design

“In 2025 as fewer young people join the construction trades, we will continue to see a push for more simplified control systems. This will include, but not be limited to, LLLC, wireless, and pre- and app-based commissioned systems. Any system that reduces labor hours will win the day. Also, given the recent threats of increased tariffs, we will see more onshoring of controls products to meet supply and market demands.”

John LaMontagne, VP Sales - Lighting + Controls
Leviton Mfg. Co., Inc.

“In 2025, the challenge of finding the right design staff will persist, but a more pressing concern is the overall shortage of design professionals needed to ensure the industry's growth and long-term sustainability. As fewer individuals choose design as a career path, it is paramount to invest in attracting, educating, and mentoring the next generation of designers.”

Michael Barber, President | Principal
The Lighting Practice

“I wish I could predict that our neurophysiology will evolve beyond our current demand for and response to light, but I can only predict that it would take a while longer."

"I wish I could predict that we will fully grasp the complex dynamics of all co-evolving living and environmental systems on earth, but our intelligence, artificial or not, is probably not quite there yet."

"I wish I could predict that we will solely develop and apply best practices at the nanoscale and the global scale, but most likely, we would need the unpredictable concurrence of multiple crises and trends to do that."

"So for 2025, I am only going to predict - and hope - that our industry's commitment to social engagement and philanthropy will expand.”

Nathalie Rozot, CEO
PhoScope

“Agent consolidation will accelerate. That will result in fewer paths to market for manufacturers and complicated decisions to make.”

Rob Duncan, Executive Vice President
Bell & McCoy / FRM

“As end-of-life LED flat panels increasingly fill dumpsters and landfills, the environmental impact of building material disposal will spark stricter recycling regulations in the United States in the second half of this decade."

"A progressive state like California, Washington, or New York will lead the charge, implementing ambitious e-waste policies for building materials that include recycling targets, business incentives, and penalties for non-compliance. This shift will compel manufacturers, end users, and contractors to embrace sustainable practices further, driving the industry toward a more circular, environmentally-focused future.”

Al Uszynski, Publisher & Editor
Inside Lighting