Balancing Brightness and Sustainability with imotion Outdoor Digital Signs

In today’s tech-driven world, outdoor digital signage is everywhere from busy city centers to quiet suburban neighborhoods. But while these bright, eyecatching displays effectively communicate messages, they can also raise concerns about energy efficiency and environmental impact. This raises the questions: can outdoor digital signs be made more efficient? And, more importantly, how can we strike the right balance between visibility and sustainability?

High Brightness, High Energy Consumption

When selecting outdoor digital displays, customers often focus only on screen size and display resolution. However, a key factor that impacts both image quality and energy consumption is screen brightness. Higher brightness ensures the screen remains readable in direct sunlight, but it also significantly increases energy use. The backlight of an LCD screen is its primary energy consumer, and over-bright screens can have considerable environmental consequences. But it's not just energy use we need to be concerned about. Overly bright digital signs can also contribute to light pollution, which disrupts ecosystems and human well-being.

Regulating Brightness for Sustainability

Many cities now have strict regulations to reduce light pollution from digital signage, and it’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about sustainability. Overly bright screens disrupt the surrounding environment by adding unnecessary light.

One of the most effective solutions is to automatically regulate screen brightness based on ambient light conditions. This not only ensures the screen is visible without being excessively bright, but it also drastically reduces energy consumption, as the backlight is adjusted to match outdoor lighting.

Clear image doesn’t necessarily mean bright image

Energy Savings and Environmental Impact

A typical outdoor digital sign can run continuously at 2,500 nits or more, which is necessary for direct sunlight. However, during low-light conditions, such as at night or on cloudy days, maintaining such high brightness would waste energy. By integrating ambient light sensors, the screen adjusts in real-time to provide just the right level of brightness. This reduces the power required to run the backlight, cutting overall energy consumption.

imotion’s outdoor totems are equipped with advanced light-sensing technology that automatically adjusts screen brightness based on real-time outdoor conditions. This innovative ambient light sensor responds to changes in light the same way the human eye does, ensuring perfect visibility while significantly reducing energy use.

Wavelength [ nm ], imotion ambient ligt sensor and human eye comparison.

Measurements are managed using Controlmotion technical software, which automatically regulates the display's backlight. Default settings for the minimum and maximum levels of ambient light and screen brightness are set by Infinitus R&D, based on extensive testing and real-world applications. If needed, these default values can be manually adjusted by the user to better fit specific environments.

Ambient light sensor settings in Controlmotion software

Manual control is an important feature of the system. For example, if a digital sign is installed near a residential area and the automatically adjusted brightness is still too bright, it could disturb people, especially at night. In these cases, the system administrator can easily access the Controlmotion software to manually adjust the brightness or set a custom schedule to reduce light during sensitive times.

Sustainability at the Forefront of Display Technology

By automatically adjusting screen brightness, companies can reduce their environmental footprint without sacrificing visibility or display quality. Systems like imotion’s ambient light sensors ensure that digital signs remain energy-efficient and eco-friendly, aligning with global sustainability goals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while outdoor digital signs must remain visible in various lighting conditions, thoughtful regulation of their brightness is crucial. By embracing smart technologies and sustainable practices, businesses can reduce their environmental impact while maintaining display quality. As global sustainability efforts continue, these innovations will play a key role in shaping the future of digital signage.