Daylighting Tropical Building Interiors from Skylight: The Case for Separating Heat from Useful Visible Light

Published Date
2014

Author 

• K. M. Al-Obaidi 
• , M. Ismail
• , A. M. Abdul Rahman

Abstract 

Daylighting in modern architecture affects space arrangement, user’s visual and thermal comfort, and building energy use. It is the highest quality light source. Tropical countries suffer from high solar insolation that brings in heat and glare. The gradual increase in the energy cost in tropical countries, as in Malaysia, challenges the building designer to rethink the construction of the skylight system as a strategy to reduce the environmental impacts on indoor conditions. The solution is not as simple as those achieved in the temperate countries. This paper investigates the possibility of using the roof light as an acceptable tropical design element that can meet the requirements of Malaysian Green Building Index. Initial computer simulation was carried out before collecting empirical data. The hypothesis has been achieved to provide a better indoor daylight comfort, but several factors to be considered and modified are discussed. All these adjustments are to meet the Malaysian Comfort Temperature.

References 

1. 1.
   Page, J. (1993). Availability of daylight in Europe and design of a European daylight atlas. In Right light: Proceedings of the 2nd European conference on energy -efficient lighting, Arnhem, NSVV.
2. 2.
   Zain-Ahmed, A., et al. (2002). The availability of daylight from tropical skies: A case study of Malaysia. Renewable Energy, 25, 21–30.CrossRef
3. 3.
   Jinghua, Y., et al. (2008). Low-energy envelope design of residential building in hot summer and cold winter zone in China. Energy and Buildings, 40, 1536–1546.CrossRef
4. 4.
   Walley, S. M., Field, J. E., Blair, P. W., & Milford, A. J. (2004). The effect of temperature on the impact behaviour of glass/polycarbonate laminates. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 30, 31–53.CrossRef
5. 5.
   Integrated Environmental Solutions. Introducing the <Virtual Environment>. http://​www.​iesve.​com/​software
6. 6.
   Green Building Index. NON-RESIDENTIAL NEW CONSTRUCTION (RNC). 2011. http://​www.​greenbuildingind​ex.​org/​Resources/​GBI%20​Tools/​GBI%20​Design%20​Reference%20​Guide%20​-%20​Non-Residential%20​New%20​Construction%20​(NRNC)%20​V1.​05.​pdf
7. 7.
   Laws Relating to Housing and Construction in Malaysia, Section 4. Malaysia Uniform Building By-Law 1984, ACT 133. MDC Publishers Printers Sdn Bhd, 1998.

For further details log on website :
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-287-077-3_50