%0 Journal Article %J Building and Environment %D 2015 %T Measured daylighting potential of a static optical louver system under real sun and sky conditions %A Kyle S. Konis %A Eleanor S. Lee %K daylighting %K field measurements %K high dynamic range luminance images %K optical louver system %K sunlight redirecting system %X

By utilizing highly specular surfaces and engineered profile geometry, optical sunlight redirecting systems integrated into the overhead “clerestory” zone of the building facade present the potential to enlarge the daylighting zone by redirecting the luminous flux incident on the window deeper into the space than conventional shading systems. In addition, by developing system geometry to redirect daylight to specific zones within the space, optical light redirecting systems have the potential to avoid the glare conditions commonly produced by conventional facade shading systems that direct significant amounts of daylight below head height into the occupant's field of view. In this case study, side-by-side comparisons were made over solstice-to-solstice changes in sun and sky conditions between an optical louver system (OLS) and a conventional Venetian blind set at a horizontal slat angle and located inboard of a south-facing, small-area, clerestory window in a full-scale office testbed. Daylight autonomy (DA), window luminance, and ceiling luminance uniformity were used to assess performance. The performance of both systems was found to have significant seasonal variation, where performance under clear sky conditions improved as maximum solar altitude angles transitioned from solstice to equinox. Although the OLS produced fewer hours per day of DA on average than the Venetian blind, the OLS never exceeded the designated 2000 cd/m2 threshold for window glare. In contrast, the Venetian blind was found to exceed the visual discomfort threshold over a large fraction of the day during equinox conditions (from 40 to 64% of the test day between August 22 and October 12). Notably, these peak periods of visual discomfort occurred during the best periods of daylighting performance. Luminance uniformity was analyzed using calibrated high dynamic range luminance images. Under clear sky conditions, the OLS was found to increase the luminance of the ceiling as well as produce a more uniform distribution of luminance over the ceiling. Compared to conventional venetian blinds, the static optical sunlight redirecting system studied has the potential to significantly reduce the annual electrical lighting energy demand of a daylit space and improve the quality from the perspective of building occupants by consistently transmitting useful daylight while eliminating window glare.

%B Building and Environment %V 92 %P 347-359 %8 10/2015 %2 LBNL-187135 %& 347 %R 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.04.024 %0 Conference Paper %B SimBuild 2012, 5th National Conference of IBPSA-USA, August 1-3, 2012 %D 2012 %T Application of a stochastic window use model in EnergyPlus %A Spencer M. Dutton %A Hui Zhang %A Yongchao Zhai %A Edward A. Arens %A Youness Bennani Smires %A Samuel L. Brunswick %A Kyle S. Konis %A Philip Haves %X

Natural ventilation, used appropriately, has the potential to provide both significant HVAC energy savings, and improvements in occupant satisfaction.

Central to the development of natural ventilation models is the need to accurately represent the behavior of building occupants. The work covered in this paper describes a method of implementing a stochastic window model in EnergyPlus. Simulated window use data from three stochastic window opening models was then compared to measured window opening behavior, collected in a naturally-ventilated office in California. Recommendations regarding the selection of stochastic window use models, and their implementation in EnergyPlus, are presented.

%B SimBuild 2012, 5th National Conference of IBPSA-USA, August 1-3, 2012 %C Madison, WI %8 08/2012 %U https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2gm7r783 %0 Thesis %B Architecture %D 2012 %T Effective Daylighting: Evaluating Daylighting Performance in the San Francisco Federal Building from the Perspective of Building Occupants %A Kyle S. Konis %K daylighting %K performance assessment %K San Francisco Federal Building %K shading controls %X

Commercial office buildings promoted as “sustainable,” “energy efficient,” “green,” or “high performance” often reference use of daylight as a key strategy for reducing energy consumption and enhancing indoor environmental quality. However, buildings are rarely studied in use to examine if the design intent of a sufficiently daylit and a visually comfortable work environment is achieved from the perspective of building occupants or how occupant use of shading devices may affect electrical lighting energy reduction from photocontrols. This dissertation develops a field-based approach to daylighting performance assessment that pairs repeated measures of occupant subjective response using a novel desktop polling station device with measurements of the physical environment acquired using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging and other environmental sensors with the objective of understanding the physical environmental conditions acceptable to occupants. The approach is demonstrated with a 6-month field study involving (N=44) occupants located in perimeter and core open-plan office spaces in the San Francisco Federal Building1 (SFFB). Over 23,100 subjective assessments paired with physical measures were analyzed to develop models of visual discomfort and shade control and to examine the assumptions of existing daylighting performance indicators. The analysis found that existing daylight performance indicators overestimated the levels of daylight illuminance required by occupants to work comfortably without overhead ambient electrical lighting. Time-lapse observation of interior roller shades showed that existing shade control models overestimated the frequency of shade operation and underestimated the level of facade occlusion due to interior shades. Comparison of measured results to the daylighting objectives of the SFFB showed that available daylight enabled electrical lighting energy reduction in the perimeter zones but not in the open-plan core zones. The results extend existing knowledge regarding the amount of daylight illuminance acceptable for occupants to work comfortably without overhead electrical lighting and for the physical variables (and stimulus intensities) associated with visual discomfort and the operation of interior shading devices.

%B Architecture %C Berkeley %8 01/2012 %U https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7q35m7nq %9 PhD %0 Journal Article %J LEUKOS The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America %D 2011 %T Visual Comfort Analysis of Innovative Interior and Exterior Shading Systems for Commercial Buildings using High Resolution Luminance Images %A Kyle S. Konis %A Eleanor S. Lee %A Robert D. Clear %X

The objective of this study was to explore how calibrated high dynamic range (HDR) images (luminance maps) acquired in real world daylit environments can be used to characterize, evaluate, and compare visual comfort conditions of innovative facade shading and light-redirecting systems. Detailed (1536 x 1536 pixel) luminance maps were time-lapse acquired from two view positions in an unoccupied full scale testbed facility. These maps were analyzed using existing visual comfort metrics to quantify how innovative interior and exterior shading systems compare to conventional systems under real sun and sky conditions over a solstice-to-solstice test interval. The results provide a case study in the challenges and potential of methods of visualizing, evaluating and summarizing daily and seasonal variation of visual comfort conditions computed from large sets of image data.

%B LEUKOS The Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America %V 7 %8 1/2011 %G eng %N 3 %L LBNL-4417E %1

Windows and Daylighting Group

%2 LBNL-4417E %R 10.1582/LEUKOS.2011.07.03003 %0 Journal Article %J ASHRAE Transactions %D 2009 %T Field Measurements of Innovative Indoor Shading Systems in a Full-Scale Office Testbed %A Eleanor S. Lee %A Dennis L. DiBartolomeo %A Joseph H. Klems %A Robert D. Clear %A Kyle S. Konis %A Mehry Yazdanian %A Byoung-Chul Park %X

The development of spectrally selective low-e glass with its superior solar control and high daylight admission has led to widespread use of large-area, "transparent" or visually clear glass windows in commercial building facades. This type of façade can provide significant inherent daylighting potential (ability to offset lighting energy use) and move us closer to the goal of achieving zero energy buildings, if not for the unmitigated glare that results from the unshaded glazing. Conventional shading systems result in a significant loss of daylight and view. Can innovative shading solutions successfully balance the tradeoffs between daylight, solar heat gains, discomfort glare, and view?

To investigate this issue, a six-month solstice-to-solstice field study was conducted in a sunny climate to measure the thermal and daylighting performance of a south-facing, full- scale, office testbed with large-area windows and a variety of innovative indoor shading systems. Indoor shading systems included manually-operated and automated roller shades, Venetian blinds, daylight-redirecting blinds, and a static translucent diffusing panel placed inboard of the window glazing. These innovative systems were compared to a reference shade lowered to block direct sun.

With continuous dimming controls, all shading systems yielded lighting energy savings between 43-69% compared to a non-dimming case, but only the automated systems were able to meet visual comfort criteria throughout the entire monitored period. Cooling loads due to solar and thermal loads from the window were increased by 2-10% while peak cooling loads were decreased by up to 14%. The results from this experiment illustrate that some indoor shading systems can preserve daylight potential while meeting comfort requirements. Trends will differ significantly depending on application.

%B ASHRAE Transactions %V 115 %P 706-728 %8 10/2009 %N 2 %& 706 %0 Report %D 2009 %T High Performance Building Facade Solutions: PIER Final Project Report %A Eleanor S. Lee %A Stephen E. Selkowitz %A Dennis L. DiBartolomeo %A Joseph H. Klems %A Robert D. Clear %A Kyle S. Konis %A Robert J. Hitchcock %A Mehry Yazdanian %A Robin Mitchell %A Maria Konstantoglou %X

Building façades directly influence heating and cooling loads and indirectly influence lighting loads when daylighting is considered, and are therefore a major determinant of annual energy use and peak electric demand. façades also significantly influence occupant comfort and satisfaction, making the design optimization challenge more complex than many other building systems.

This work focused on addressing significant near-term opportunities to reduce energy use in California commercial building stock by a) targeting voluntary, design-based opportunities derived from the use of better design guidelines and tools, and b) developing and de ploying more efficient glazings, shading systems, daylighting systems, façade systems and integrated controls.

This two-year project, supported by the California Energy Commission PIER program and the US Department of Energy, initiated a collaborative effort between The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and major stakeholders in the façades industry to develop, evaluate, and accelerate market deployment of emerging, high-performance, integrated façade solutions. The LBNL Windows Testbed Facility acted as the primary cata lyst and mediator on both sides of the building industry supply-user business transaction by a) aiding component suppliers to create and optimize cost effective, integrated systems that work, and b) demonstrating and verifying to the owner, designer, and specifier community that these integrated systems reliably deliver required energy performance. An industry consortium was initiated amongst approximately seventy disparate stakeholders, who unlike the HVAC or lighting industry, has no single representative, multi-disciplinary body or organized means of communicating and collaborating. The consortium provided guidance on the project and more importantly, began to mutually work out and agree on the goals, criteria, and pathways needed to attain the ambitious net zero energy goals defined by California and the US.

A collaborative test, monitoring, and reporting protocol was also formulated via the Windows Testbed Facility in collaboration with industry partners, transitioning industry to focus on the import ance of expecting measured performance to consistently achieve design performance expectations. The facility enables accurate quantification of energy use, peak demand, and occupant comfort impacts of synergistic façade-lighting-HVAC systems on an apples-to-apples comparative basis and its data can be used to verify results from simulations.

Emerging interior and exterior shading technologies were investigated as potential near-term, low-cost solutions with potential broad applicability in both new and retrofit construction. Commercially-available and prototype technologies were developed, tested, and evaluated. Full-scale, monitored field tests were conducted over solstice-to-solstice periods to thoroughly evaluate the technologies, uncover potential risks associated with an unknown, and quantify performance benefits. Exterior shading systems were found to yield net zero energy levels of performance in a sunny climate and significant reductions in summer peak demand. Automated interior shading systems were found to yield significant daylighting and comfort-related benefits.

In support of an integrated design process, a PC-based commercial fenestration (COMFEN) software package, based on EnergyPlus, was developed that enables architects and engineers to x quickly assess and compare the performance of innovative façade technologies in the early sketch or schematic design phase. This tool is publicly available for free and will continue to improve in terms of features and accuracy. Other work was conducted to develop simulation tools to model the performance of any arbitrary complex fenestration system such as common Venetian blinds, fabric roller shades as well as more exotic innovative façade systems such as optical louver systems.

The principle mode of technology transfer was to address the key market barriers associated with lack of information and facile simulation tools for early decisionmaking. The third party data generated by the field tests and simulation data provided by the COMFEN tool enables utilities to now move forward toward incentivizing these technologies in the marketplace.

%8 12/2009 %G eng %1

Windows and Daylighting Group

%2 LBNL-4583E %0 Manuscript %D 2009 %T Innovative Façade Systems for Low-energy Commercial Buildings %A Eleanor S. Lee %A Stephen E. Selkowitz %A Dennis L. DiBartolomeo %A Joseph H. Klems %A Robert D. Clear %A Kyle S. Konis %A Maria Konstantoglou %A Mark Perepelitza %X

Glazing and façade systems have very large impacts on all aspects of commercial building performance. They directly influence peak heating and cooling loads, and indirectly influence lighting loads when daylighting is considered. In addition to being a major determinant of annual energy use, they can have significant impacts on peak cooling system sizing, electric load shape, and peak electric demand. Because they are prominent architectural and design elements and because they influence occupant preference, satisfaction and comfort, the design optimization challenge is more complex than with many other building systems.

Façade designs that deliberately recognize the fundamental synergistic relationships between the façade, lighting, and mechanical systems have the potential to deliver high performance over the life of the building. These "integrated" façade systems represent a key opportunity for commercial buildings to significantly reduce energy and demand, helping to move us toward our goal of net zero energy buildings by 2030.

Provision of information — technology concepts, measured data, case study information, simulation tools, etc. — can enable architects and engineers to define integrated façade solutions and draw from a wide variety of innovative technologies to achieve ambitious energy efficiency goals.

This research is directed toward providing such information and is the result of an on‐going collaborative research and development (R&D) program, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.

%I Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory %C Berkeley %8 11/2009