LUMEN-DAY: A NEW CONCEPT FOR DAYLIGHTING DESIGN IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A NEW DAYLIGHTING DESIGN METHOD BASED ON A "LUMEN-DAY" CONCEPT. THE ESSENCE OF THE LUMEN-DAY METHOD IS A STATISTICAL CLIMATIC DATA BASE, SIMILAR IN CONCEPT TO THE HEATING AND COOLING DEGREE-DAY METHOD OF ENERGY ANALYSIS, GENERATED THROUGH THE INTERROGATION AND ANALYSIS OF TMY/TRY WEATHER TAPES. THE LUMEN-DAY DATA BASE WOULD BE A STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF THE DAYLIGHT RESOURCE AND WOULD BE USED TO EVALUATE THE ENERGY IMPLICATIONS OF DAYLIGHTING USE IN BUILDINGS FOR A GIVEN INTERIOR LIGHT LEVEL AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING CONTROL STRATEGY. USING THE PROPOSED METHOD, A BUILDING DESIGNER COULD READILY DETERMINE THE DAYLIGHTING PERFORMANCEEFFICIENCY AS WELL AS THE LIGHTING ENERGY USE OF THE BUILDING DESIGN. CURRENTLY, DAYLIGHTING DESIGN/ANALYSIS IS CONSTRAINED BY THE NEED FOR CUMBERSOME HOURLY SIMULATIONS OR PHYSICAL MODEL TESTING. THE PROPOSED LUMEN-DAY METHOD PROVIDES SIMPLE DESIGN GUIDELINES AND AN ENERGY ANALYSIS PROCEDURE TO EFFICIENTLY DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL AND ENERGY SAVINGS OF DAYLIGHTING IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.