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The Benefits of Daylighting

Monica Alpizar

Scientific research demonstrates that up to a 40% increase in retail sales can be achieved with
well-designed natural interior daylight in the right retail environment.

What popularized skylights for large chain retailers was the extraordinary sales increase that
Walmart achieved when they designed their first energy-efficient model store in Lawrence,
Kansas, in 1993. Specially designed skylights were installed on half of the store’s rooftop.
The SKUs located under the skylights sold better than those under fluorescent electric
lighting. To validate the increased sales results of natural lighting, Walmart swapped
merchandise from one side of the store to the other and noted the same sales increase for the
merchandise moved to the daylit zone.

Then, in a 1999 landmark study, PG&E commissioned Heschong Mahone Group (HMG,
now part of TRC Companies) to investigate the effects of skylights on retail sales. Over an
18-month period, HMG analyzed the sales performance of a chain retailer’s 108 outlet stores,
two-thirds of which had skylights and one third of which had none. The results establish a
statistically compelling connection between skylighting and retail sales. In fact, apart from
store hours, skylights were found to be the best predictor of sales. The report found that the
non-skylit stores would likely have seen 40% higher sales with the addition of skylights, with
a probable range of 31%-49%.

Research by Eneref Institute has determined that today, the pivotal sales opportunity lies in
the supermarket sector. Everything from fresh fruit to soda bottles looks better under
skylights because daylight accurately renders all wavelengths of light within the visible color
spectrum. When merchandise is illuminated with the broad spectrum of sunlight, their true
colors are reflected with an even intensity, making them more appealing to the human eye.

Competition for millennials’ wallets from online sales and delivery/pick-up services is
threatening traditional grocery stores. Retailers who act aggressively to mitigate climate
change can appeal to millennials, who strongly believe that climate change is now upon us.
Skylights offer retailers a net-zero energy resource, an attractive selling point to millennials
vigilant about mitigating climate change. The 2018 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) found that to prevent the worst consequences of climate change from
occurring as soon as 2040, carbon dioxide emissions must plunge to less than half of what
they are today — within the next 10 years. That’s why utilizing natural interior daylight is
critical: unlike LED electric lighting, daylight uses no energy and produces no carbon
emissions.

While retailers need to engage millennials for long-term viability, their older customers also
need better lighting. According to the Illuminating Engineering Society, people 55 and older
require 2.3 times more light for the same visual acuity as 25-year-olds. Well-managed
daylight can significantly raise interior light levels without glare, bringing up to 200-ft.
candles of full-spectrum lighting into a building — which would be costly to achieve with
electric lighting.

Eneref Institute has found that the key benefits of daylighting for retailers also include
increased foot traffic because stores with natural illumination were reported to feel more
inviting by customers interviewed for this Eneref Report. Illuminating checkout counters with
natural daylight made customers feel more at ease. The same tactic can be used to encourage
shoppers to interact with salespeople, who seem more approachable under natural light. By
creating a more pleasant shopping experience, retailers will attract more customers and
increase sales.

In the Eneref Institute survey, architects reported that they specify natural daylight for many
reasons: improved aesthetics, more pleasant psychological feelings, enhanced quality of light,
elevated visual comfort and better color balance. One architect who works for a major retail
chain said that he “looks to bring in an abundance of visible sunlight into the space, even
when the sun is low on the horizon.” The architect explained that he specified Velux
Dynamic Domes in a recent project for that very reason, though he also noted that today
several high-quality commercial skylights are available on the market.

Lighting buildings with natural interior daylight can potentially provide a significant increase
in retail sales and, studies show, employee productivity. By using natural daylight, all
retailers, and especially supermarkets, have a unique opportunity for a triple play: tackle
climate change, shrink energy costs and boost sales—all at the same time.

Monica Alpizar is associate editor at Eneref Institute, a global research advocacy

organization with offices in the United States, Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe.
https://chainstoreage.com/store-spaces/the-benefits-of-daylighting
4 Ways to Control Daylight
09/29/2020 | By BOMI International

The use of daylighting is a high-performance lighting initiative that building professionals

can implement to reduce electric lighting use and energy demands, while providing the
utmost in occupant comfort, health and productivity.

Daylighting involves the design of windows, light shelves, blinds, ceilings and wall surfaces
that take natural light, diffuse it via the appropriate building elements and enhance the
workplace while reducing overall energy costs.

The Benefits of Daylighting

On average, lighting costs account for one-third to one-half of a building’s total electricity
costs. Effective daylight distribution through reflection and diffusion can reduce electric
lighting power costs and improve the usefulness of natural light.

Daylighting brings more natural and diffused light into buildings with less heat than artificial
lighting, which means cooling systems use less energy to offset added heat from light
fixtures. As a result, daylighting often results in lower energy bills. Estimates of overall
energy savings from installing high-performance technologies and daylight controls are as
high as 75%. Having control over dimming of electric lighting can also reduce peak energy
use and reduce overall electrical costs.

Additionally, daylighting creates a visually pleasing, healthier and more productive

environment for building occupants. Studies on the benefits of daylighting reveal higher test
scores for students, increased sales for retailers, higher work output for employees, and better
regulation of hormones and the circadian rhythms that control our sleep.

Measuring Daylight Autonomy

Daylighting effectiveness is measured in terms of daylight autonomy, the percentage of floor
area that receives the acceptable illumination level for a critical percentage of annual
occupied hours.

Spatial daylight autonomy (sDA) is a dynamic measure of the level of lighting achieved from
daylighting averaged over a year. The LEED standard uses the sDA metric, requiring 50% of
occupiable hours to receive between 300 and 3,000 lux.

In addition, LEED stipulates that a second measurement, annual sunlight exposure (ASE),
does not exceed 1,000 lux for longer than 250 hours during the year, and in no more than
10% of occupied space.
Measuring and quantifying daylighting statistics requires an objective analysis involving all
spaces. Typically, measurements are taken at around desktop height, or 2.5 feet off the floor.
Collecting this data hourly across the course of a year is achievable through computer
simulations.

[Related: 4 Lighting Strategies for Energy Efficiency]

Daylighting Modeling Analysis Tools

Daylighting modeling tools are a good way to forecast daylighting design outcomes for an
existing or planned structure. These tools can evaluate potential daylight levels at different
times of the year based on weather and climate conditions, and they work in tandem with
programs to project building energy implications.

A lighting designer or consultant can provide this kind of analysis. In existing buildings, this
analysis would show whether there is sufficient daylighting coming in through existing
openings and if blinds or other interior retrofits would improve performance at a reasonable
cost. It is also important to evaluate the shading of other structures on a building.

4 Ways to Manage Daylighting

The greatest benefits of daylighting result from maximizing a building’s northern and
southern windows while minimizing its eastern and western windows. Northern and southern
lighting is easily controlled. Northern light is relatively diffuse, with little glare, and often
does not require the use of external shading. Southern daylight is abundant, with more
opportunity to direct lighting deeper into a space with light shelves or screens, but glare must
be controlled to manage this opportunity. Windows to the east and west, as well as unshaded
southern windows, can cause excessive glare due to low sun angles and excessive cooling
loads due to difficulty in shading.

Tools are available to control each of these exposures and come in several options, including
layering external light shelves, overhangs and fins, internal light shelves, blinds and shades.

1. Interior Shading and Light Shelves

Interior blinds, sunshades and light shelves provide additional options for high-performance
daylighting in both new construction and existing buildings. Although internal blinds can
help to control glare and light, the energy has already entered the building and must be
cooled. However, if selected correctly, the blinds and shades can reflect some solar energy
back outside through the glass.

Light redirection, diffusion and solar shading must be designed for each orientation and room
configuration to optimize natural light distribution into the space while controlling heat and
glare.

2. Interior Sunshades

Interior sunshades block glare and regulate daylight distribution inside a building but do not
significantly reduce solar heat gain and often compromise views. In existing buildings,
installing appropriate blinds and educating the tenant management and occupants in the use
of the blinds can be beneficial. Newer blinds that can be operated from the top and the bottom
(bidirectional blinds) have many advantages over conventional blinds, maintaining daylight
entry above and views below.

3. Light Shelves

A light shelf is an architectural element that conveys daylight deep into a building by
directing it to the ceiling. An interior light shelf can be used with bidirectional blinds to
improve daylight penetration into a space. An interior shelf is the most feasible in an existing
building since it is not exposed to the weather.

The combination of light shelves and shades provide far more effective daylighting and glare
control, but at a higher cost. All interior systems should support manual or automatic control
by the occupants.

4. Horizontal Blinds

Traditional horizontal blinds are very useful for daylighting, especially if the blades are
inverted to reflect light up to the ceiling. When combined with independent upper and lower
control, they can optimize daylight and view without glare. Vertical blade blinds are not
effective for augmenting daylighting. They do not direct the light to the ceiling plane where it
can bounce deeper into the space, and they make glare control difficult.

[Related: Renovated Offices Show Health and Wellness Spaces are Here to Stay]

Ceiling Design for Light Reflectance

The design and reflectiveness of ceilings affect the performance of lighting systems, the
amount of daylighting provided to a building and ultimately its lighting energy costs.

Ceiling systems are becoming a pivotal aspect of energy conservation. Well-designed ceilings
with high light reflectance:

 Improve space illumination

 Allow for fewer light fixtures
 Reduce the need for electrical light
 Reduce maintenance costs and overall cooling load

Ceilings are also key to an indirect lighting system because they reflect light into the space.
The light resistance (LR) value is the percentage of light striking the panel that is reflected
(from 0 to 1, with 1 being the highest reflectance), meaning the LR is the ability of a ceiling
to reflect light.

Increasing the reflectance of a ceiling has a direct, positive effect on the lighting and energy
used in a building. Commonly used acoustical ceilings have an LR of 0.70 to 0.81, but there
are products that can reach 0.82 or higher.
The best result stems from an increase in light reflection in conjunction with indirect lighting.
Studies have shown that a ceiling with a LR of 0.89 versus one of 0.75 can increase light
levels by 25% with indirect lighting, 18% with direct/indirect lighting, and up to 4% with
direct lighting.

Daylighting and electrical lighting are the two primary lighting resources available in a
building. The light reflectance of the ceiling, floor and wall surfaces plays the second most
important role in overall illumination of a room.

This article is adapted from BOMI International’s High Performance Sustainable Building
Practices, part of the BOMI-HP designation program. www.bomi.org.

Read Next: The Role of Technology in Post-COVID Spaces

https://media.buildings.com/news/industry-news/articleid/22307/title/4-ways-control-daylight