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Stanford CEE 215 - Introduction 1

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IntroductionHow Skylights Improve BuildingsHow Skylights Save EnergyHow To Use These GuidelinesThe SkyCalc Spreadsheet Tool .Fig. 1-1: Skylights Improve BuildingsFig. 1-2: SkyCalc Daylight Illumination ChartFig. 1-3: SkyCalc Optimization Graph1-1introductionThe use of skylights has grown in recent years, both because they enliven buildinginteriors and because they can save energy dollars through daylighting. Skylighting can bea solid asset for buildings, and satisfying for building designers, occupants, and owners.Skylights can make a number of major contributions to the built environment since they:• Provide excellent lighting conditions to the interior of buildings• Reduce the use of electric lighting, to save energy and reduce peak electric loads when combined with photocontrols• Satisfy human needs for contact with the outdoors• Increase safety and security with highly reliable daytime lighting • Provide emergency smoke vents We have prepared these Guidelines to help you use skylights to maximum advantage incommercial and industrial buildings. They describe opportunities for energy savings andgood lighting design offered by skylights. They explain how to integrate skylights with theother building elements. They show how to estimate the possible energy and dollar savings.Finally, they help you avoid mistakes that could reduce the value of your skylight design.These Guidelines apply primarily to skylight applications designed to provide uniformlighting for commercial or industrial buildings. They refer to manufactured, off-the-shelfskylight components used in commercial applications, commonly referred to as “unit sky-lights.” These are typically simple, rectangular, or linear skylights, although with creativitythey can be applied to nearly any design situation. Many of the lighting principles coveredhere are also applicable to residential buildings, although the energy impacts are entirelydifferent in homes and should not be extrapolated from the information in this handbook.Similarly, atrium skylights and other large, custom-designed skylights involve many otherissues that are not addressed in this publication. The reader is referred to more specializedtexts and tools for the analysis of custom applications.1.Introductionskylighting guidelines1-2Skylights use the most ancient and universal light sources, the sun and the sky, to bring naturallight into buildings. This daylight can do many useful things for the building and its occupants.At the most basic level, daylight can illuminate the people and activities that occupy thebuilding. Depending on the design of the skylight system, the daylight can be uniformlyspread over a wide area, or it can be localized for particular tasks. For many types ofbuildings, skylighting is a very practical complement to electric lighting.Beyond basic illumination, however, daylight helps buildings to be more attractive forhuman occupation. It brings some of the lively qualities of the outdoor environment indoors.The movement of sun and clouds across the sky produces a more interesting environmentthan does constant interior lighting. The differences in brightness and changes in lightingcolor evoke a pleasant response in people. Skylights also can improve the appearance ofarchitectural spaces and detailing. A dramatic, ever-changing light source models form andhelps people to perceive and enjoy shape, color, and texture. Daylight also helps plants togrow, which further enlivens the interior of a building.For these reasons and more, skylights are a desirable amenity that makes people feel goodabout their environment and improves morale. As an additional benefit, the amenities ofskylights can raise the value of real estate through higher rents and resale prices.When asked what the greatest advantages of skylights were, a random survey of buildingprofessionals overwhelming responded “natural light” as the most important quality. Thiswas augmented by those who believed that skylights provided “better light,” “betterworking conditions,” “better color,” or “better aesthetics.” Altogether, the people who namedimprovements to the lighting quality of the building as the most important characteristic ofskylights represented 82 percent of the sample1.All of these advantages and benefits of skylights have their exceptions, of course, but withgood design you can avoid problems. Considerations for the designer to take into accountwhen designing skylight systems for daylighting include:• Visual and thermal comfort• Seasonal and daily shifts in daylight availability • Heat loss and heat gain• Integration with the electric lighting system• Choice of daylighting control strategy• Integration with the roofing system• Integration with the HVAC design• Utility costs and peak electric demand• Structural and safety concernsFigure 1-1: Skylights ImproveBuildingsHow Skylights Improve Buildings1.1.1-3introductionThe following chapters will give you the information and tools you need to design goodand valuable skylighting systems, and will help you avoid problems. With effective design,everybody will be a winner: your building, its occupants, and you too.Clearly the primary role of skylights is to provide the best possible lighting conditions in thebuildings they serve, and to enhance the visual environment so that the occupants of thebuilding can be as productive and comfortable as possible. It is in this spirit that thisSkylighting Guidelines book is written, to help the designer and building owner understandhow to apply skylights to their buildings for maximum effect. Skylights save energy by providing adequate daylight illumination in buildings so thatelectric lights can be turned off when they are not needed. Daylight costs nothing, and addsconsiderably less heat to a space than the equivalent amount of illumination from electriclights. By reducing the amount of heat contributed to a building by electric lighting, skylightscan also significantly reduce the need for cooling. Skylights can potentially also increase heating loads by allowing more heat to escapethrough the roof and increase cooling loads by letting more of the sun’s heat enter a building.The optimum balance of lighting and cooling savings versus increased needs for heating orcooling is a function of the building design, the building operation, and the local climaticconditions. However, the potential energy savings are substantial. To give you a quick


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Stanford CEE 215 - Introduction 1

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