daylighting

Motorized sun-controlled louvers and electrically heated glasses are installed in NIKKEN SEKKEITokyo Bldg. A lot of highly effective equipment systems are set up in this building. In this research,these energy conservation systems are measured and analyzed. This report explains the specificationof the building, equipments, and the window system. . As a result, it was confirmed that the exteriorblinds and a heat generating double glazing was effective in keeping thermal environment comfortableand saving energy.

Energy tariff is a major cost in hotel operation. Effective use of energy can reduce operationalexpenditures and has important environmental benefits. Solar heat gain particularly throughfenestration, contributes to a significant proportion of the building envelope cooling load. More solarradiation means more total solar heat gain and hence, more cooling requirements and larger electricityconsumption for air-conditioning in hot summer. Daylight makes an interior space look more lively andattractive and people expect good natural lighting in their living spaces.

Illuminance and daylight availability are important parametersin daylighting design for passive, low energy architecture. In Malaysia, the only climatic parameter that can be used for determining daylight availability is global solar irradiation, which is measured at major meteorologicalstations around the country. However, it is possible to estimate the global illuminance from global solar irradiation data if the global luminous efficacy is known.

The use of artificial lighting in the office buildings has significant contribution on total energyconsumption of the building. With the increase in the price of energy and public becoming moreenergy conscious, more attention has been given to the energy efficient lighting.

The SOLVENT window is an innovative glazing system concept that involves the use of a rotating frame, an absorptive glazing and a naturally ventilated vertical channel, in order to improve the balance between the visual comfort and the energy efficiency of windows.

DayMedia and MulCom are multimedia teaching packages targeted at architects and building engineers, as well as students. While DayMedia is concerned with daylighting in architecture, MulCom covers human comfort and the energy performance of buildings. Most of the content is related to thermal comfort, although acoustics and visual comfort are covered as well. The development of the packages has part-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Low Energy Architecture Research Unit (LEARN) of the University of North London.

In urban canyons reflected sunlight can play an important role in the illumination of buildings, particularly in orientations and during times of the day where sunlight is not incident on the windows. Facing buildings provide considerable obstruction to daylight by reducing the skylight contribution and sometimes blocking the access to sunlight. However, reflected sunlight is an important contribution to the internal illuminance of a room and should not be underestimated.

The Satel-Light Internet server provides to designers and engineers daylight information which was previously unavailable. It is based on a database of daylight and solar radiation, covering Western and Central Europe, which was produced as part of a European project called SATELLIGHT. This database has been computed from the images produced by the Meteosat satellite. Thus it has an excellent spatial resolution (every 5 km on average) and an excellent temporal resolution (every 30 mn).

Preliminary experiments with a novel glazing system developed at the Desert Architecture and Urban Planning Unit of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev indicated that it may provide improved visual and thermal performance in buildings with large glazed areas located in sunny regions (hot and cold). In winter, it allows solar space heating but reduces glare, local over-heating and damage to furnishings caused by exposure to direct solar radiation.

SERRAGLAZE is a breakthrough daylighting system designed to be incorporated into the primary glazing of normal sidelit rooms to save energy and enhance comfort.The paper describes the design, construction and optical properties of the plastic SERRAGLAZE panel, the key component of the system.