Minimum daylight autonomy: A new concept to link daylight dynamic metrics with daylight factors

Abstract

Daylight metrics act as a useful tool to quantify the potential of natural light in an architectural space as well as the energy savings promoted by a suitable design of windows, atriums, and skylights. Accordingly, a new indoor lighting metric is proposed, minimum daylight autonomy, defined as the percentage of occupied time when an illuminance threshold can be met by daylight alone under continuous overcast sky conditions. This novel concept can determine an approximation of the maximum use of electric lighting and the quantification of minimum energy savings without the need for advanced calculation tools. Although daylight factor is the most widespread concept, it cannot forecast energy savings as accurately as dynamic metrics. In addition, daylight autonomy is the most usual dynamic definition, because it estimates the energy consumption of on–off electric lighting systems depending on weather conditions. However, there is no link between static and dynamic metrics, because both concepts are based on different variables. This research proposes the calculation procedure for minimum daylight autonomy, as well as the equations that serve to predict dynamic metrics based on static metrics, after confirming the accuracy of the simulation program that calculates the metrics using a test cell under real conditions.