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Sustainable lighting design in school buildings

Conference Paper · September 2005

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3251.1681

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Sustainable lighting design in school buildings
Ass. Professor Barbara Matusiak, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Department of Architecture and Fine Art
Alfred Getz vei 3, 7034 Trondheim, Norway, barbara.matusiak@ark.ntnu.no

Dr. Piotr Pracki, Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Lighting Division
Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland, piotr.pracki@ien.pw.edu.pl

1. Introduction
Worldwide efforts have been undertaken to protect our natural environment. The idea of
sustainable development is one of the results of these attempts. Sustainable development
indicates a new order developed by countries of the world at the end of the 20th century.
Broad ideas usually have many definitions and the like is with sustainable development. The
most well-known classic definition was given by Brundtland Commission in 1987:
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”.
In the most general meaning sustainable development means such world’s socio-economic
development that integrates the political, economic and social activities and natural
environment and processes to guarantee possibility of satisfying the basic needs of present
and future societies. In order to ensure sustainable development the socio-economic
transformations should include:
- maintenance of chances of renewable resources reproduction;
- effective usage of not renewable resources and replacing them with renewable
substitutes;
- gradual elimination of danger and toxic materials and substances;
- maintenance of ecological safety for people, recognised as creation of friendly
conditions for physical, psychological and social health.
Buildings and built environment play a major role in the human impact on the natural
environment and on the quality of life. Therefore the sustainable development concept
should be included in the design, construction and operation of buildings to conserve both
the economic well-being and environmental health around the world.
The research connected to sustainable lighting in school buildings presented in this paper is
one of results of the SURE-BUILD project (Sustainable Redevelopment of Buildings in
Poland) a project where scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
and the Warsaw University of Technology cooperate to find the best solutions for sustainable
redevelopment of buildings in Poland.

2. Principles of sustainable lighting design

Recently, a sustainable approach to lighting design has been considered.
This approach appreciates two well-known lighting concepts: energy efficiency and lighting
quality. The principles of sustainable lighting design should be used in designing,
construction and operation of lighting systems in buildings. The basic rules of sustainable
lighting design are:
- maximising the use of daylighting in interiors;
- minimising the use of electric energy for lighting;
- maintaining high quality of lighting,
- using environmental friendly lighting equipment, that does not contain harmful
substances or materials;
- protecting wasted lamps (recycling).

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3. Sustainable lighting solution in a primary school in Zgierz
The primary school no. 1 in Zgierz near Lodz in Poland was chosen as a case for the SURE-
BUILD project. The whole building envelope will be thermo-modernised and all technical
systems i.e. heating, ventilation and lighting systems will be upgraded. It is agreed in the
project group that cooling systems should not be an option for school buildings. Covering of
the space between buildings A and C, figure 1, with a glazed roof is under consideration.

3.1 Description of the primary school in Zgierz

The school consists of five two-floor buildings oriented east-west and connected by one-floor
pavilions, figure 1. The main teaching areas, classrooms and laboratories, are situated in
buildings A, D and C.
Because of the limited size of this paper, the way sustainable lighting principles are to be
implemented in the Zgierz school will be shown on the example of a typical classroom on the
first floor in the building A. The same lighting principles will be used in nearly all interiors in
the Zgierz school.

Figure 1. The plan of the primary school no. 1 in Zgierz.

3.2 Daylighting in a typical classroom

Sustainable approach exposes the usage of daylight as a primary light source of interiors.
Daylight in classrooms is provided by windows that give the variety and variability of lighting
and a view out. The daylight in a classroom has to give enough light level in periods of
overcast sky and comfortable lighting conditions in periods of clear sky with sun conditions.

Figure 2. The outside view of building A.

Overcast sky
As a part of the thermo-modernization of the building envelope all windows will be removed.
This gives a possibility of reconsidering the size of the windows and their position in the
window wall. The size of a glazing area in the classroom was calculated using the Leso Dial

2
program to meet the recommendations for minimum daylight factor (DF) that were formulated
on the basis of the experience from daylighting studies in many schools in Norway [6][7]:
The mean daylight factor in the classroom: DFmean> 4%
The minimum daylight factor in the classroom: DFmin > 2%
For the daylighting calculations the area between the bearing walls articulated on facades as
slightly sloped two-floor pillars, figure 2, was defined as “a classroom”. The classroom has
today two large windows divided into smaller areas vertically and horizontally. The classroom
has the dimensions: height 3.1 m, depth 5,2 m, width 6.8 m. The reflectances in the
renovated classroom will be: floor 0,2, wall 0,5, ceiling 0,7. The outdoor obstructions make
20º elevation angle; the outside obstructions and the ground have both reflectances of 20%.
Two following glazing types were considered:
1. Two glass layers of energy saving and sun protecting glazing: Suncool HP Brilliant
66, Pilkington, U-value: 1,0 W/m2K (if argon is used in the gap), total solar
transmittance, TST: 34%, light transmittance Tv= 66%
2. Two glass layers of energy saving glazing: Optitherm SN, Pilkington, U-value: 1,1
W/m2K (argon), TST: 58%, light transmittance, Tv=79%
To meet the daylighting recommendations formulated above, the glazing type 1 should have
an area of minimum 12,65 m2, which is more than the existing glazing area and is about 36%
of the floor area. If the transmittance of the glazing increases to 79%, type 2, the minimum
glass area becomes 10,5 m2, which is about 29% of the floor area. To avoid too large glazing
area the project group decided to choose the glazing alternative no. 2, but this decision will
be revised after the energy and thermal comfort calculations for the whole school building will
be finished.

Clear sky with sun

During the clear sky periods the sunlight should be actively used to illuminate the classroom.
Since the illuminance due to the sun radiation is typically more than one magnitude higher
than the illuminance from the overcast sky, the whole window glazing (if not shaded) will
transmit much more sun radiation in sunny days than it is necessary for lighting purposes.
The overheating can occur due to the infrared part of solar radiation, especially during spring
and summer. Also solar glare can occur, especially for low solar angles. To avoid such
problems a sun shading device is necessary. Placing the shading device on the outside of
the glazing is the most effective way for preventing overheating. But if the sunshading
system covers the whole glazing, the users typically close the whole sunlight outside, the
mean illuminance level inside becomes too low and the electric light is switched on. The
result is exactly opposite to the principles of sustainable design. To avoid this, a part of the
glazing should transmit the sun radiation inside the room and distribute it in the interior in a
way that ensures comfortable visual conditions.
What is the minimum “always transmitting” glazing area that ensures the minimum
illumination in the room during the clear sky conditions?
To answer this question the calculations with the following assumptions were made:
1. The classroom is oriented south
2. The operation hours of the school building are 8 am - 3 pm.
3. The mean outside obstruction angle is 20º.
4. The minimum illuminance on the working plane is 300 lx.
5. The light transmittance of the glazing for the normal incidence angle is 79%, for
incidence angles higher than 50°: 72% for 55° and 68% for 60°.
6. All surfaces in the room are perfect diffusers.
In figure 3 the area of the sun diagram corresponding to the operation hours of the school is
coloured. The grey coloured area corresponds to the time period when the classroom
windows are shaded by neighbouring buildings, the yellow coloured area represents the sun
hours when sunlight might penetrate into the classroom.
Let us consider a room with one large window. The lower part of the window is totally shaded
by a shading system, the sunlight penetrates only through the upper part of the window. The
total flux entering the room can be easily calculated if the glass area Agl of the uncovered
part of the window and the solar illumination perpendicular to sunrays Ep are known. Let us
start with the calculation of incident angle v of a sun ray on the glass in terms of the altitude
angle α and the azimuth angle β , figure 4:

3
   arctg (tg ) 2  (tg ) 2 (1)

Figure 4. The sun ray’s incidence angle on

Figure 3. Solar diagram for Zgierz. the window glass.

Because the solar illumination depends on the incident angle:


E gl  E p cos and: E gl  (2)(3)
Agl
The light flux falling on the glass having the light transmission Tv is:
  Agl T E p cos(arctg (tg ) 2  (tg ) 2 ) (5)
Let us assume, that the light flux penetrating through the glazing falls on a perfectly diffuse
surface and is evenly distributed in the room. The formula for calculation of the internally
reflected component, Hopkinson, 3.5.2 [5], can be used to calculate the mean illuminance on
the surfaces in the room,
R
E mean  (6)
Atot  (1  R)
where R is the mean diffuse reflectance of the room surfaces and Atot is the total area of
room surfaces. The formulas 5 and 6 were used to calculate the minimum glazing area
needed to ensure minimum 300 lx on the room surfaces. The results are presented in table
2.
If the azimuth angle is limited to 50º, the minimum glazing area that ensures minimum 300lx
on the room surfaces is 1,78 m2. The 10,5 m2 window glass area could be divided in the
following way: 8,72 m2 in the lower part, 1,78 m2 in the upper part.

Table 2. The minimum glazing area that ensures minimum 300lx on the room surfaces in
sunny days.
Solar Altitude in degrees (º)
Solar Azimuth (º) 20 30 40 50 60
2 2 2 2 2
0 1,16 m 1,02 m 1,05 m 1,18 m 1,70 m
2 2 2 2 2
10 1,17 m 1,03 m 1,05 m 1,18 m 1,71 m
2 2 2 2 2
20 1,22 m 1,07 m 1,09 m 1,21 m 1,73 m
2 2 2 2
30 1,32 m 1,14 m 1,14 m 1,26 m
2 2 2 2
40 1,47 m 1,26 m 1,24 m 1,47 m
2 2 2 2
50 1,74 m 1,62 m 1,56 m 1,78 m
2 2 2
60 2,65 m 2,21 m 2,08 m

In a classroom with naked windows the sunlight will fall on students and/or teachers,
something that is recognized as uncomfortable. To avoid this, a sunlight redirecting system is
necessary. We have chosen a specially designed Venetian blinds having a slightly curved
(valley-form) horizontal blinds with a specular upper surface which have a very high
reflectance (miro quality R>95%). The system reflects nearly all incoming sunlight to the
ceiling, even if blinds are sloped a little. To maintain the high optical quality of the upper
surface, the blinds should not be movable, but the slopping of the blinds should be adjustable
to a degree necessary for redirecting all sunlight to the ceiling.

4
The negative impact of a fixed system is the reduction of daylight level in the overcast sky
periods. The studies of many different blind systems presented in [4] show that a blind
system may reduce the daylight factor in the rear zone of the room by 20–40%.
To examine how large reduction of diffuse daylight can be expected due to our system, the
model of the classroom was made in 1:10 scale and a series of model measurements in the
artificial sky in NTNU, Trondheim, were carried out. To better illustrate the impact of blinds,
the measurements were carried out twice. In the first series the lower part of windows was
uncovered, in the second it was covered by an opaque cardboard. The results show that the
contribution from the upper part of the window is much more even than the contribution from
the lower part. The obstruction of the diffuse daylight due to the specular blinds differ with the
distance from the window wall. The obstruction is largest in points 2 and 1 (respectively 45%
and 36%), figure 5. In the rear zone, where the daylight factor is typically lowest, the
reduction of daylight factor is only above 16%. In the point 5, situated vertically on the back
wall over the door height, there is no reduction at all.
To counteract the 16% reduction of daylight factor due to the specular blinds, the glass area
in the upper part of the window has to be increased by 1/0.84 i.e. by 19%.

The minimum area of a glazing equipped with specular Venetian blinds that ensures visual
comfort and minimum illumination in the room during the clear sky conditions is 2.12m2,
about 6% of the floor area.
Daylight factor on the working plane,
clerestory window and view window

20,0 %
18,0 %
16,0 %
14,0 %
12,0 %
DF

10,0 %
8,0 %
6,0 %
4,0 %
2,0 %
0,0 %
0 1 2 3 4 5
distance from the window wall

blinds no blinds
no blinds, only clerestory window blinds, only clerestory window

Figure 5. Vertical section through the classroom with measurement points to the left. Daylight
factor measured in points 1-4 with and without blinds in the upper part of the windows, to the
right.

Figure 6. Penetration of sunlight into a classroom in summer and spring/autumn. The blinds
in the upper part of the windows are placed horizontally. The window size and the division
into lower and upper parts is not a result of this study.

Conclusions for daylighting

The windows are divided into a lower part which has a total area of 8.72 m2, (24,5% of the
floor area) and an upper part 2.12m2 (6% of the floor area). To ensure thermal and visual
comfort in the room the lower part of the windows is equipped with an outside shading
5
system that is controlled automatically, i.e. the blinds move up if the sky is overcast, down if
the sky is clear; the slopping of the blades is automatically adjusted to an optimal slopping
that prevents direct sunshine and maintains as much outside view as possible. In periods
without daylight the blinds are positioned vertically. They have a much higher reflection factor
than the glazing (about 50%), something that contributes to better efficiency of the electric
lighting system. In the upper part specially designed Venetian blinds with a specular upper
surface, as described before, are used. They are not movable, but the slopping of the blinds
can be slightly manually adjusted by the users. Figure 6 shows the sunlight distribution in the
room with specular blinds oriented horizontally. In summer the sunlight is completely
redirected to the ceiling. To redirect the sunlight to the ceiling in spring/autumn the blinds
have to be slopped a little (this was difficult to do in the model).

4. Electric lighting in a typical classroom

Quality of electric lighting in polish schools is unsatisfactory. The most common errors in
polish classrooms were shown [8]. In our study electric lighting is considered as a
supplementary light source in classrooms. Still, there are periods (mostly in winter time)
when electric lighting is used as the only light source. Then, it should fulfil the requirements
of standard PN-EN 12464.1 [1].
In classrooms of primary schools illumination levels on task areas shall not fall below 300 or
500 lx, depending on task or activity, UGR shall not exceed 19 and CRI shall not be lower
than 80 – table 3. In a typical polish classroom benches are located regularly, in two or three
rows, covering all the floor area. Thus, in our case the task area is taken as the area
between walls. Uniformity on the task area should be high, while the minimum to average
illuminance shall not be lower than 0,7. In classrooms with DSE screens, luminance limits of
luminaires which can be reflected in the screen shall not be exceeded according to the
standard.

Table 3. Lighting requirements in classrooms according to PN-EN 12464.1 [1].

Type of interior, task or activity Em UGR CRI
[lx]
Classrooms, tutorial rooms, music
practice rooms, computer practice 300 19 80
rooms (menu driven), language
laboratory
Classrooms for evening classes and
adult education, practical rooms and 500 19 80
laboratories, art rooms, blackboard and
demonstration table

General considerations
It is intended to replace the old electric lighting equipment with a new energy efficient one in
all classrooms. We expect to reduce the number of luminaires and total power installed
(lower energy loads), and to provide high lighting quality in the school interiors. For each
classroom a few options were considered. The main assumptions were as follows:
- general lighting, regular lay–out of luminaires;
- ceiling mounted, louvre luminaires;
- T5 fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts.

Lighting equipment
In this paper four solutions are presented. First and second options are surface mounted
direct lighting luminaires, third and fourth options are pendant mounted direct – indirect
lighting luminaires. For the first and third options luminaires with one T5 35W fluorescent
lamp were selected (300 lx solutions). For the second and fourth options luminaires with two
T5 35W lamps were selected (500 lx solutions). Louvres of selected luminaires are made of
highly specular anodised aluminium to fulfil high discomfort glare restrictions and luminance
limits in classrooms with DSE screens. In each option one additional blackboard luminaire
(asymmetric distribution) with one T5 35W fluorescent lamp was necessary.

6
Maintenance
Maintenance factors were estimated based on the agreed unified schedule for the all
classrooms. It was decided that the environment was clean. For direct lighting, enclosed
luminaires were selected, and for direct–indirect lighting, luminaires with open top reflector.
The maintenance schedule for the classrooms was as follows:
- time between cleanings of classrooms: 4 years;
- time between cleanings of luminaires: 1 year (the end of each summer holiday);
- lamp replacement: Spot.
The resulting maintenance factor for direct lighting was 0,80 and for direct–indirect lighting
was 0,75.

Results
In table 4 the results of calculations, with the use of the DIALux 3.1.5 program, are
presented. Four solutions for a typical classroom in the school are introduced. Existing
lighting in the classroom is shown too. Results of existing lighting were calculated for
evaluated maintenance factor because illuminance levels varied between classrooms, as
there were no maintenance procedures executed in the school.

Table 4. Lighting solutions and existing lighting in a typical classroom of the primary school
no.1 in Zgierz, Poland.
Solution 1 Solution 2 Solution 3 Solution 4
Existing lighting 300 lx 500 lx 300 lx 500 lx
direct direct direct–indirect direct–indirect
Bare lamp batten Louvre luminaires Louvre luminaires
luminaires Enclosed Open top reflector
Surface mounted Surface mounted; direct lighting Pendant mounted; direct – indirect light.
Conventional Electronic ballasts (suspension height 0,5 m)
ballasts Electronic ballasts
T12 lamp 40W T5 lamp 35W
Flux: 2500 lm Luminous flux: 3300 lm
CCT: 6500 K CCT: 4000 K
CRI: 70 CRI: 85
Lay – out Lay – out Lay – out Lay – out Lay – out
Regular: 5x3 Regular: 5x2+1 Regular: 4x2+1 Regular: 6x2+1 Regular: 5x2+1

Power: 1350W Power: 390W Power: 624W Power: 468W Power: 780W
Power density: (429W*) (663W*) (507W*) (819W*)
24,96 W/m2 Power density: Power density: Power density: Power density:
7,21 W/m2 11,54 W/m2 8,65 W/m2 14,42 W/m2
(8,53 W/m2*) (13,18 W/m *)2
(10,08 W/m2*) (16,28 W/m2*)
Em=605 lx Em=345 lx Em=547 lx Em=329 lx Em= 531 lx
MF=0,70 MF=0,80 MF=0,80 MF=0,75 MF=0,75
4,13W/m2/100lx 2,09W/m2/100lx 2,11W/m2/100lx 2,63W/m2/100lx 2,72W/m2/100lx
Uniformity>0,7 Uniformity>0,7 Uniformity>0,7 Uniformity>0,7 Uniformity>0,7
UGR=25 UGR=19 UGR=19 UGR=16 UGR=16
Eceil/E=0,95 Eceil/E=0,32 Eceil/E=0,35 Eceil/E=1,00 Eceil/E=0,96
Ewall/E=0,75 Ewall/E=0,40 Ewall/E=0,35 Ewall/E=0,47 Ewall/E=0,45
Lighting control: Lighting control:
Switching Manual, Switching
ordinary wall-box Day switch plan
switches 2 circuits controlled independently

* - values include blackboard luminaire

A blackboard luminaire in each solution guarantees the illuminance being higher than 500 lx
and uniformity higher than 0,7 on a blackboard.

The direct lighting solutions fulfil the basic requirements of the standard (illuminance level,
uniformity, discomfort glare and colour rendering index limits) providing energy efficiency.
7
 The direct–indirect lighting solutions are less energy–efficient but provide better lighting
quality (better glare limitation and ceiling illumination) and better visual appearance too.
Solutions 3 and 4 are suggested as preferable in our case. Solution 3 should be selected for
a classroom where 300 lx requirement is applied and solution 4 should be selected for a
classroom where 500 lx requirement is applied. The final selection of the lighting solution for
each classroom will be examined, including cost analysis.
Due to high energy efficiency of our electric lighting solution both the decrease of amount of
electricity consumed and the decrease of environmental effects are expected. T5 fluorescent
lamps selected in our solution have smaller tube diameter than T12 lamps used in existing
lighting of the school. Reduction in diameter causes weight and size reduction and as a
result reduction of materials (glass, fluorescent powder) and compounds–mercury. Burn–out
lamps will be collected and transported to an authorised recycling company.

5. Conclusions
The principles of sustainable lighting design were formulated and used in the lighting concept
of the primary school no. 1 in Zgierz Poland.
Because of its many advantages, both for the people and the environment, daylight is utilised
as a primary light source. For overcast sky conditions the daylight factor calculations were
made to find the minimum glazing area that secures a minimum daylight level in interiors.
For clear sky with sun conditions the effort was made to:
1. assure the visual and thermal comfort for occupants by usage of the outside
sunshading device over the most part of the window,
2. use sunlight as a light source, by defining a small upper part of the window as the
always-light-transmitting part.
The upper part is equipped with an internal daylighting system in form of specular blinds that
redirect sunlight to a diffuse ceiling. The calculations have shown that for a typical classroom
the upper part of the window should have an area of minimum 6% of the floor area; the lower
part the area about 24,5% of the floor area.
Importance of energy efficient electric lighting was included too. Application of modern
electric lighting equipment will considerably reduce the installed power (over 50%) and the
use of electric energy on lighting in the school. Effective use of electric lighting (planned
maintenance and control program) should substantially reduce the total operating costs of
the building too. New solutions will also secure much higher quality of electric lighting,
something that will increase well-being and performance of students and teachers.
Principles of sustainable lighting design should be disseminated to include lighting society in
worldwide sustainable development process.

Acknowledgments
This paper is one of the results of the SURE-BUILD project financed by The Research
Council of Norway and Norwegian Council for Higher Education.

References
[1] PN-EN 12464.1, Light and lighting – Lighting of work places – Part 1: Indoor work places,
PKN, Warsaw, 2004.
[2] ANSI/IESNA RP-3-00, Lighting for Educational Facilities, New York, IESNA, 2000.
[3] CIBSE, Code for Lighting, Butterworth – Heinemann, 2002
[4] IEA Solar Heating & Cooling program Daylight in buildings. A source book on daylighting
systems and components July 2000.
[5] Hopkinson, R.G. Peterbridge P., Longmore J. Daylighting, William Heinemann Ltd,
London, 1966.
[6] Matusiak Barbara, Aschehoug Øyvind, Daylighting Analysis for the Kvernhuset Lower
Secondary School, Fredrikstad, Norway. Proceedings of The third ISES-Europe Solar
Congress: EuroSun 2000, 19-22 June, Copenhagen, Denmark.
[7] Matusiak Barbara, Daylighting in the Kvernhuset Lower Secondary School, Fredrikstad,
Norway. Proceedings of PLEA 2000: Architecture, City, Environment. July 2000,
Cambridge, United Kingdom
[8] Pracki Piotr, Lighting quality in schools – Introductory study”, 25th Session of the CIE, San
Diego, Proceedings Volume 2, CIE 2003.

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