Predicted Performance of the Integrated Artificial Lighting System in Relation to Daylight Levels

The office is an excellent candidate for implementing daylighting techniques because of the relatively high electric lighting power densities and long daytime use pattern. The quantity of light available for a space can be translated in term of the amount of energy savings through a process of a building energy simulation. To get significant energy savings in general illumination, the electric lighting system must be incorporated with a daylight - activated dimmer control. A prototype configuration of an office interior has been established and the integration between the building envelope and lighting and HVAC systems is evaluated based on computer modeling of a lighting control facility. First of all, an energy-efficient luminaire system is designed for both a totally open-plan office interior and a partitioned office. A lighting design and analysis program, Lumen-Micro 2000 predicts the optimal layout of a conventional fluorescent lighting fixture to meet the designed lighting level and calculates unit power density, which translates the demanded amount of electric lighting energy. A dimming control system integrated with the contribution of daylighting has been applied to the operating of the artificial lighting. Annual cooling load due to lighting and the projecting saving amount of cooling load due to daylighting under overcast diffuse sky are evaluated by a computer software, ENER-Win. In brief, the results from building energy simulation with measured daylight illumination levels and the performance of lighting control system indicate that daylighting can save over 70 percent of the required energy for general illumination in the perimeter zones through the year. A 25 % of electric energy for cooling may be saved by dimming and turning off the luminaires in the perimeter zones.