The BE-Ex team celebrating Daylight Hour 2025 at the Exchange in lower Manhattan.
On June 20th, 2025, Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex) hosted its annual Daylight Hour, a global social media campaign that strives to promote energy efficiency and celebrate natural lighting by encouraging commercial and home offices to turn off all non-essential lights for one hour and share their participation on social media.
This year, the Daylight Hour campaign reached 505 offices across 24 countries, engaging with 57,365 people and turning off the lights in over 28.5 million sq. ft. of office space. As a result of our collaborative effort, participants saved a total of 51,700 kWh in a single hour, nearly five times the amount of electricity that the average U.S. household consumes per year.
Our registrants came from a variety of sectors, representing architecture and real estate, educational institutions and resource hubs, consulting and construction, city and state government, and the healthcare and social services industries. Participants include Arup, Kumon, Perkin Eastman, the New York Public Library, and the New York Botanical Garden. View the complete participant list here.
Daylight Hour 2025 was generously sponsored by Lutron, a global leader in creating innovative lighting, shading, and control products that enhance efficiency and increase user comfortability. As a special addition to the campaign, we released a Daylight Hour-themed episode of Radio BE-Ex featuring German-born lighting design expert Thomas Mnich, Sales Manager at Lutron. “The Lighting Controls Revolution with Thomas Mnich” episode explores the future of lighting design, the dynamic between electric light and daylight, and the power of the dimmer.
Thomas Mnich (left) and BE-Ex’s Katie Schwamb (right) recording for Radio BE-Ex.
In addition to engaging with fun activities such as Sunshine Origami and Daylight Hour Bingo, offices shared photos and videos of their participation online and competed for Daylight Hour Awards.
Prestigious awards went to:
- Curtis & Ginsberg Architects for Best View
- Hudson Technologies for Best Co-worker
- CUNY Building Performance Lab for Early Bird
- HIGHMARK for Most Photogenic
- Thornton Tomasetti for Most Lit
- Parkhill for Regional Actor
- Yale University’s Upper Science Hill Development Team for Bingo Blackout
- CUNY Staten Island for Most Spirit
To all the offices who joined us this year for Daylight Hour—both new and returning participants—thank you for your involvement in making the campaign so successful!
Daylight Hour may be over this year, but energy efficiency and sustainability is a long-term commitment that requires sustained efforts to decarbonize and reduce energy consumption. To learn more about daylighting, check out the following Radio BE-Ex episodes: Social Equity and Daylighting with Lisa Heschong, The Power of Daylight with Susan Ubbelhode, and Shining Light on Healthy Buildings with Sara Karerat.
To explore innovative lighting solutions designed for energy efficiency and user experience, check out the services provided by Lutron.
Until next year – lights off, daylight on!
Written by Stephanie Le, Associate, Education & Engagement
