Daylighting in the Tropics

Residential and commercial buildings share about 55% of the world electrical energy consumption. Proper use of daylight reduces energy for lighting and air- conditioning. Due to the luminosity of sky, daylighting offers a great potential for application in tropical region. However, daylighting in the tropics under the constraints of requirement of energy conservation, visual comfort, and varying skylight and sunlight faces a real challenge that still awaits satisfactory solutions. This research addresses investigating tropical daylight and its illuminance through window. Measurements at a daylight station in Bangkok, Thailand, were compiled for a priori knowledge of the availability of tropical daylight and sky luminance distributions. This study also examines a means of automated blind to bring daylight into building interior to illuminate at appropriate level as much space as possible with consideration of indoor daylight quality. Energy savings of the system is assessed through model simulation and physical experimentation. This book should be useful for researchers in daylight research group and professionals in sustainable building design community.