Climate-based daylight analysis of fixed shading devices in an open-plan office

Abstract

Office buildings consume large amounts of energy and are responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Among building energy efficiency measures, solar shading plays a significant role in reducing building energy consumption for cooling. This study analysed the influence of solar protection on daylighting of an open-plan office. Climate-based daylight modelling was used to predict such metrics as daylight factor, daylight autonomy and useful daylight illuminances. The results obtained showed that overhangs, and horizontal and vertical louvres have similar behaviours and sidefins have no relevance to indoor daylight conditions. In all cases, it has been proven that excessive obstruction may yield an excessive reduction in a range of illuminances between 500 and 2000 lux, increasing lighting energy consumption.