Energy Saving Through the Sun: Analysis of Visual Comfort and Energy Consumption in Office Space (original) (raw)
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eCAADe proceedings, 2021
In recent years, performance-based design has become the key issue behind design decisions in the construction industry towards reducing energy consumption. Various simulation techniques and optimization tools have started to be used together for performance objectives to reach optimal solutions for complex design process. In the sector, one of the most energy-consuming buildings is offices. This study examines the effects of integration of simulation programs and optimization tools on the daylight, energy and thermal performances of office buildings on different climates. Two cities, Ankara and Izmir, in Turkey selected as locations. The study is carried out with total of thirteen parameters. With Rhinoceros/Grasshopper software, Honeybee, Ladybug and Octopus plug-ins used for daylight, energy and thermal simulation and performance optimization. With the results obtained, the optimal configurations related with selected parameters are determined for reducing energy consumption while improving daylight and thermal performance on different climates.
Daylight simulation in buildings
PLEA 2008, 2008
Emphasis on daylight is given to non-domestic buildings because in such buildings the specificity of the activities or the high levels of illumination demand a more careful control on daylighting examined for design purposes. Clearly energy saving in that situation is one of the reasons for that emphasis. This paper deals with light coming into the rooms through the window providing natural light once the window is considered the only system that provides and controls light flux and distribution. Rooms can be classified according to their occupancy and use, and then many different activities requiring different illumination levels can be developed in the same space. Room's classification is the first step to establish the ratio window to the floor area for daylight purposes. Therefore the aim of the present work is to investigate window’s characteristics as a mean to assess daylighting. Windows’ parameters were taken up to calculate daylighting for 12.00m² rooms. The simulated cases were accessed varying windows position, shape, size and geometry, maintaining in all cases 3.60m² area. This methodology can be applied in architectural education aiming students’ comprehension about users’ comfort and energy savings. ECOTECT and Radiance softwares were used to simulate the proposed windows’ parameters.
Many contemporary office buildings are characterized by large glazed surfaces, often located without any consideration about orientation. Without a suitable solar control strategy, this fact implies several problems related to visual comfort, thermal comfort and energy demand, which is mainly related to HVAC and, to a smaller extent, to artificial lighting. Moreover, if the office room is large, the values of physical parameters influencing comfort are relevantly variable from point to point, mainly as a function of the distance from glazed surfaces. Typically, daylighting requirements of occupants located far from the windows can conflict with the thermal comfort requirements of occupants located next to the windows. In this work a case-study is analysed. It consists in a medium size office room located in a typical office building, in an urban context of the Northern Italy. Different solar control devices and related control logics are compared; their effects on global comfort conditions and energy demand are assessed. The considered devices consist of different kinds of movable external slats, some of which incorporating PV cells. This analysis is performed by means of a specific software: "Ener_Lux", already presented in previous PLEA Congresses. Once defined the kind of devices and the related operating logic, the program simulates the dynamic thermal and luminous behaviour of the physical system, provides various comfort assessment index values and calculates the primary energy demand for HVAC and lighting.
Article Towards an Analysis of Daylighting Simulation Software
2011
The aim of this article was to assess some of the main lighting software programs habitually used in architecture, subjecting them to a series of trials and analyzing the light distribution obtained in situations with different orientations, dates and geometry. The analysis examines Lightscape 3.2, Desktop Radiance 2.0, Lumen Micro 7.5, Ecotect 5.5 and Dialux 4.4.
Integrating daylight and energy performance with optimization into the design process has always been a challenge for designers. Most of the building environmental performance simulation tools require a considerable amount of time and iterations for achieving accurate results. Moreover the combination of daylight and energy performances has always been an issue, as different software packages are needed to perform detailed calculations. A simplified method to overcome both issues using recent advances in software integration is explored here. As a case study; the optimization of external shadings in a typical office space in Australia is presented. Results are compared against common solutions adopted as industry standard practices. Visual comfort and energy efficiency are analysed in an integrated approach. The DIVA (Design, Iterate, Validate and Adapt) plug-in for Rhinoceros/Grasshopper software is used as the main tool, given its ability to effectively calculate daylight metrics (using the Radiance/Daysim engine) and energy consumption (using the EnergyPlus engine). The optimization process is carried out parametrically controlling the shadings’ geometries. Genetic Algorithms (GA) embedded in the evolutionary solver Galapagos are adopted in order to achieve close to optimum results by controlling iteration parameters. The optimized result, in comparison with conventional design techniques, reveals significant enhancement of comfort levels and energy efficiency. Benefits and drawbacks of the proposed strategy are then discussed.
Energy and Buildings, 2014
The SD10 Prototype is an experimental building used as the Headquarters of the organization during the Solar Decathlon Europe Competitions 2010 and 2012. The project aim is to develop a new industrialized, light, sustainable and energy efficient construction system. The active modular glazing panel is a 2D glazing module on the south façade. In high solar radiation climates, the effect of the large amount of light and the usual lack of daylighting control devices cause exterior sunscreen abuse, paradoxically generating artificially illuminated interior spaces. The consequences of living in areas with not enough daylight go beyond the impact on electricity consumption. Natural lighting can have both positive and negative effects on health, productivity and user satisfaction of a space. The objective of this study is to evaluate the modular active glazing panel and to determine the influence of different types of solar and light control devices in relation to the quantity and quality of natural light, in order to determine which are suitable for the use of solar radiation in high radiation climates.
Computer daylight simulations in buildings
Newly designed buildings should be optimized with respect to sufficient indoor illuminance and solar protection against glare effect and indoor overheating. The optimized building design must be based on solutions of many design alternatives and case studies, as well as necessary assessments should be carried out in order to find optimum solutions which can be completed via the help of computer simulation programmes. Some of the simulation programmes could be helpful for modelling of indoor daylighting in rooms and spaces with various types of daylight systems and their positioning in buildings. The paper focuses on a series of computer daylight simulations completed for the selected room with four different types of window openings specified for optimizing the building design for daylighting.
The building façades, as boundary between external and internal environment, play a central role in energy reduction and suitable comfort conditions maintenance. Their evaluation requires an integrated assessment approach, focused on occupants' thermal and visual comfort, along the time and the space, as well as on maximizing daylight and achieving energy saving goals. In this paper, dynamic simulation is used to evaluate the integrated performance of different fenestration systems in an open space office located in Rome. The illuminating analysis has been performed using DIVA, and the results, processed by means of a Matlab code, have been used as an input for Energy Plus thermal and energy analysis. Then, the Energy Plus outputs have been post processed to calculate the solar radiation influence on occupants thermal comfort. Some new metrics have been introduced in such a way that it is possible to assess the comfort performance with comprehensive indicators.
Development of a Daylight Simulation Software for Early Design Stage: A Case Study of a Container House, 2021
Daylight simulation software play a significant role in decision-making during the architectural design process. These software enable architects to make informed decisions about daylight performance in the early phases of the project. Radiance as a simulation engine provides a physically accurate model of the lighting conditions in the scene, thus capable of achieving a high degree of accuracy and validity. However, with a command line interface, it requires a large number of input parameters, which complicates modelling and restricts flexibility. When integrated in the early design process, this approach becomes less efficient, or requires enormous computation time. This paper introduces a daylight simulation software named DaylightX that uses the backward raytracing algorithm implemented on the GPU to calculate the spatial distribution of daylight across the space. The tool aims to enhance the capabilities of the simulation environments through a user-friendly interface and thus allow for flexibility in the design process. An individual residential unit-a shipping container-was used as a base case for evaluation. The modular design of shipping containers allows for flexibility in window placement and orientation, but requires careful design and implementation from daylight performance perspective. The results of the study can serve to improve the daylight performance of container housing units. Keywords daylight analysis, sustainable design, software development, computational design