Daylighting for Commercial Buildings
Natural daylight has been steadily regaining popularity for about 25 years, ever since the first studies showed that people have a positive psychological reaction to it. (podcast)
November 27, 2009
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Music by Chris Keister
Transcript
Researchers say natural light makes us more productive and healthy. Surprise? Of course not. So why did we ever stop building buildings with a lot of natural light? |
Natural daylighting has been proven to make workers more productive, happier, and healthier. It also saves money and reduces waste. |
It sure wasn't our love for fluorescent lights or higher electric bills.
There are some problems with natural lighting. It's only on during the day. It's not as strong in winter, or when the sky clouds up. And it's often too strong in the summer, when it drives up cooling loads.
Those problems are easily overcome. State-of-the-art lighting control systems include daylight sensors so they can increase the artificial lighting in small increments to achieve a desired level of total light in a workspace.
Passive solar design is influencing how buildings are conceived and oriented, to shield windows in the summer but let in the sun's warmth in the winter. Automated blinds and specialized windows are available to achieve the same thing in existing buildings.
Daylighting has a simple payback calculation based on the lighting energy it saves and the avoided cost of installing and maintaining lighting. Incentives are available to make the payback time even shorter.
Eliminating lamps you don't need, and extending the life of the ones you do need, also reduces landfill waste and hazardous materials such as mercury.