Analysis of End-Use Impact of Daylighting and Glare Controls for Private Office Spaces

ABSTRACT

Early design phase decisions are critically important to reduce a building’s energy needs. Building orientation and exterior aesthetics which drive window sizes and types are often made by architects and owners prior to daylighting or sustainability consultant’s involvement. Because designs can be difficult, if not impossible, to change as the design process proceeds the need to inform design decisions has lead to the development of a simplified calculation method capable of predicting annual lighting, cooling, and heating loads in a private office design with minimal input based on various design parameters. The method correlations have been produced for four US cities of varying climates to confirm the regression approach is transferable. An example design using these equations calculated to within 4% to 8% of detailed building energy simulation results. One significant benefit of the developed calculation method is its ability to evaluate the three main energy consumption sources’ impact provides a quick and complete assessment of the consequences of early design decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• daylighting
• early design
• EnergyPlus
• energy simulation
• simplified energy estimate