Daylight Factor

Calculating the Daylight Factor

Daylight admitted into a building through `holes in external fabric (windows, roof lights, etc.), which in adverse climates generally incorporate glass or an alternative transparent material to heat loss and/or inclement weather spaces. The amount of light received inside a building is usually only a small fraction of that required because of modifications imposed by the size and position of openings - and will also constantly vary owing to the influences imposed on the `whole sky, illumination level by clouds, buildings and/or other reflecting planes. Therefore, it is impracticable to express interior day lighting in terms of the illumination actually obtainable inside a building at any one time, for within a few minutes that figure is liable to change with corresponding changes in the luminance of the sky.

For practical purposes, use is made of the daylight factor. This is a percentage ratio of the instantaneous illumination level at a reference point inside a room to that occurring simultaneously outside in an unobstructed position.

This can be more usefully represented in calculation of the natural illuminance at the reference point inside a building by applying the following formula

Both factors of E are measured in lux (lumens per square metre), with Eo taken as a standard 5000 lux for unobstructed sky in the UK. So transposing formula to make Ei the subject Ei = ( D x Eo ) 100 Ei = ( 2 x 5000 ) 100 = 100 lux

 Day light reading at a reference point in a room can be made up of three components: sky component, or the light received directly from the sky externally reflected component, which is the light received after reflection from the ground, building or other external surface and internally reflected component, which is the light received after being reflected from the surfaces inside a building The design of a building must take into account these three factors if the correct' amount of daylight is an essential factor in its function and if the design and construction method are closely related.

Components of the Daylight Factor