EE Building visit

Building Study 3 : Bangunan Persekutuan Temerloh Pahang

Building Study 2 : Bangunan Persekutuan Gua Musang Kelantan

Building Study 1 : Rumah Persekutuan KL

Literature Review on Daylighting & Office Building Design 4

Lighting Technology and EE Office

Literature Review on Daylighting & Office Building Design 3

Review of Related Previous Researches

There are many previous researches carried out on daylighting regarding to several aspects such as solar shading, building geometry, visual comfort, building energy saving, case study of existing building and simulation tool.

Literature Review on Daylighting & Office Building Design 2

Daylight in Office Design


Incorporating natural light into an office space creates an opportunity to improve the environmental performance of the project, while promoting individual well-being and enabling capital building investments to provide better economic returns.
The most basic goals in office space design are to create a place where work can be accomplished and communication can occur. Today, light is instrumental in creating that productive environment, because 90 percent of the communication in the workplace occurs visually. From reading and writing email messages to seeing a co-worker’s body language and facial expressions, people use their eyes to interpret the world around them, and their eyes require light.
The same light that is the medium for visual communication also impacts the mood, health, and behavior of the employees it touches. Both natural and electric light can illuminate a space, but they do not impact people equally. Studies have corroborated a long-held belief that there is a strong correlation between positive mood and daylight exposure. Recent studies also imply that incorporating outdoor views into the office will positively effect employee motivation, satisfaction, productivity, and comfort, which can manifest in improved employee retention and workforce output.

Natural Light in an Office Space and Building Performance (Financial Efficiency)

The price of electricity used during peak demand times is higher than the price of electricity used when the overall demand wanes. Effectively using the daylight available during those business hours not only reduces the total electricity demanded by lighting and HVAC systems, but also reduces peak demand, minimizing the use of the most expensive electricity. Saving one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy during daylight hours saves a building more money than saving that same kWh at midnight.


Lighting Quality and Standard

There are several standards used for electric lighting. In Malaysia, the Malaysian Standard 1525:2007 has outlined illuminance levels recommendations for various tasks and applications as shown in Table 2.2. The recommended daylight factor (DF) for an effective daylight-lit office space is 1.5%. This standard should be employed as benchmark in lighting study in Malaysia. However, other criteria such as illuminance uniformity, luminance value, luminance ratio, etc. are not mentioned.

Table 2.2 Recommended average illuminance levels (MS 1525:2007)

Dubois (2001b) had studied various lighting quality standards from different sources such as IES and CIE. A combination of these standards was used for daylight analysis as shown in Table 2.3. Some of these recommendations were adapted from electric lighting standards. Therefore, daylight may give better tolerances. This study was carried out under temperate climate. Thus, the recommended DF is considerably high for tropical climate in Malaysia.

Table 2.3 Lighting performance indicator (Dubois, 2001b)

Daylight utilisation is an effective strategy for energy saving as well as visual comfort. From the above mentioned standards, it shows that many criteria should be taken consideration in order to have daylight utilisation and visual comfort. However, the current standards are adapted from electric lighting. Hence, more research is needed for daylight performance.

Literature Review on Daylighting & Office Building Design 1

Benefits of Daylight

Many previous researches have proven that daylight is beneficial not only for energy saving, but also visual comfort as well as psychological needs (Robbins, 1986; Hamdan, 1996; Dubois, 2001a;Zain-Ahmed et al., 2002b; Chou, 2004; Carmody, et al., 2004; Mohd. Zin et al. According to Robbins (1986), 30 - 50% of energy used in a commercial building is to illuminate the interior spaces. Daylight can reduce the dependency on electrical lighting. Daylight is more efficient at providing light in comparison to electric lighting and producing less heat for the same amount of light. Zain-Ahmed et al. (2002a) stated that savings of a maximum of 10% can be achieved by using daylighting strategies alone. Moreover, Athienitis and Tzempelikos (2002) claimed that the daylight benefits in term of increased productivity and reduced absenteeism of office workers probably surpass the significant energy savings.

According to Robbins (1986), the benefits of daylight can be summarized as:-
• Quality of Light
• Importance of daylight as a design element
• View
• Use of daylight apertures as fire exits in emergencies
• Energy conservation
• Energy consumption and peak demand cost savings resulting from the use of daylight
• No cost change in construction
• Opportunity to develop integrated structural and mechanical systems
• Psychological and physiological benefits not obtainable with electric lighting or windowless buildings
• The genuine desire to have natural light in a room or space.

Progress Meeting No 1

Prof Dr Hamdan presented the progress meeting report.

Technical Visit to Suruhanjaya Tenaga (ST) Diamond Building

ST Diamond building is a ST headquaters, located in Putrajaya.

Technical Visit to Green Tech Malaysia in Bangi

Originally called ZEO (Zero energy office) because the building intended to be a 100% Renewable Energy (RE) dependent. The electricity demand is powered by Photovoltaic System (PV).

Technical Visit to LEO Building Putrajaya

LEO (Low Energy Office) Building is one of the most energy efficient building in Putrajaya.

Technical Visit to Iskandar Malaysia

Iskandar Malaysia is a new regional development in southern region of Malaysia

Technical Visit to Singapore

Melawat bangunan-bangunan hijau dan bertenaga rendah.

UTM Research Team Meeting

Beberapa kali diadakan perbincangan dan mesyuarat di kalangan penyelidik dan pembangu penyelidik di UTM untuk merancang dan melaksanakan tugasan

Technical Meeting

Beberapa mesyuarat teknikal diadakan di antara para penyelidik JKR dan UTM bagi memperincikan pelbagai pelan tindakan, program dan aktiviti. Mesyuarat di adakan di JKR dan di UTM.

Research Program Chart

Penyelidikan memakan masa selama 20 bulan mulai Jun 2010 sehingga Disember 2011. Terdapat Empat fasa dan enam milestone.

Research Flowchart

Keseluruhan program penyelidikan digambarkan dengan flowchart di bawah.