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Energy Savings from Daylighting: A Controlled Experiment

published: 2005   |   report number: 233-1

Demonstrating actual lighting and HVAC impacts from high performance glazing and daylighting strategies is difficult. While many schools and other buildings have been designed and built using these strategies, attempts to compare energy consumption with standard designs must confront the myriad ways in which any particular building differs from other buildings. This leaves open the question of the extent to which measured differences in energy consumption are due to deliberate design strategies versus other uncontrolled factors such as operation schedules and building orientation.

This report presents the results of an experiment conducted at the Energy Resource Station near Des Moines, Iowa in two sets of identical rooms with independent lighting and HVAC delivery systems.