A. Laouadi, A. Galasiu, M. Atif, A. Haqqani
Year:
2003
Bibliographic info:
BUILDING SIMULATION, 8, 2003, Eindhoven, Netherlands, p. 705-712

Skylights   can   offer   useful   benefits  in  reducing building energy consumption and improving building occupants satisfaction. Skylights may also offer interesting features which increase a  building’s market value by conveying an aesthetic look to buildings, admitting natural light indoors and connecting building occupants to the outside world. While skylight features are fully exploited, their benefits are still not fully understood and accounted for in currently available computer tools. In fact, research has shown that skylights may result in high- energy consumption if not properly designed. The SkyVision software aims to assist skylight manufacturers and building designers in developing appropriate skylight designs for given buildings and daylighting applications. The software analyses the optical characteristics of various types and shapes of skylights, and calculates their daylighting and energy performance. This paper presents a description of the software and its capabilities along with some preliminary software comparison studies. SkyVision predictions of indoor illuminance compared very well with the ADELINE 3 suite of programs (RADIANCE and SUPERLITE).