Explore The Utility of Daylight Harvesting for Commercial Buildings

Daylight Harvesting is a simple way to improve occupant comfort while saving energy. With the 75F’s Advance Lighting Solution for example, you could take advantage of natural daylight as the system automatically dims down or turns off the lights in zones that receive sufficient natural light, ensuring that pre-set lux levels are maintained for optimum comfort and energy savings.  

author-image
Faiz Askari
Updated On
New Update
Krithika Chandrasekar, Daylight Harvesting,
Article by Krithika Chandrasekar of 75F 

According to the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), artificial lights are responsible for almost 17% of the energy consumed in a commercial building and can be even higher depending on usage. However, saving on the energy consumed by your lighting system is also easily achievable.

Daylight Harvesting is a simple way to improve occupant comfort while saving energy. With the 75F’s Advance Lighting Solution, for example, you could take advantage of natural daylight as the system automatically dims down or turns off the lights in zones that receive sufficient natural light, ensuring that pre-set lux levels are maintained for optimum comfort and energy savings.

Here’s more about daylight harvesting and the benefits of implementing it at your workspace:

What is Daylight Harvesting?

Daylight Harvesting works on the simple premise that facilities can optimally utilize natural light where available and cut down on the use of artificial light during daylight hours. Modern commercial buildings are often designed with glass exteriors, which makes it ideal for letting in some sunlight. Intelligent systems like 75F’s Lighting solution can identify zones that receive enough sunlight and other zones that would require artificial lighting, thereby striking the right balance to ensure your employees never experience the discomfort of too harsh or too dim lighting.

How does 75F’s Daylight Harvesting work?

75F’s intelligent solution takes into consideration the data collected by our smart, connected sensors and also takes into account weather forecast, orientation and geographical location of the building to allow for efficient control of lighting in your office space. This data is sent to the Cloud where our smart algorithms determine the optimal lighting pattern for your office space. The system automatically dims down or turns off lights in zones where and when natural daylight is available all the while ensuring that the pre-set lux levels are always maintained. This when combined with real-time scheduling and individual preferences ensures energy savings and a comfortable environment for office employees.

Benefits of Daylight Harvesting:

Here are four major reasons why you should opt for daylight harvesting as soon as possible:

·         Energy Savings

As a facility manager, you are probably always looking for cost-efficient ways of reducing your energy expenditure and cutting down on your utility bills. Daylight Harvesting is one method that guarantees long term energy savings and fast ROI! The more natural light you utilize, the more you save! A study titled ‘The potential of simplified concepts for daylight harvesting’ by the Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic University, New York shows that by adopting daylight harvesting technologies, you can expect annual energy savings as high as 24%.

·         Employee Health and Wellness

A Cornell University study shows that the office environment can have a significant impact on employee productivity. According to this study, providing just the right amount of light to employees can help reduce eyestrain by a whopping 51%, drowsiness by 56% and  headaches by 63%! This would obviously improve occupant experience and productivity. Daylight harvesting ensures that your office space receives just the right amount of light that is considered healthy for occupants. 75F sensors also measure the lux levels to ensure the brightness is never too dim or too bright. Daylight also makes for a more pleasant and cheerful atmosphere compared to artificial lights.

·         Greater Control and Automation

75F’s Advanced Lighting solution will also give you greater control over your lighting system. With 75F’s suite of web and mobile apps, the 75F Facilisight, you can ensure that your system is running only when required. Automation also saves your team’s time and energy as you can monitor, manage and remotely control all your sites. Get actionable insights and detailed data analytics in the form of easy-to-understand graphs and charts.

·         Reduced Carbon Footprint and Sustainability

Daylight harvesting can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. Most companies today have sustainability goals and this method can make a difference to the planet through energy savings and reduced carbon footprint. In India especially where coal is still the primary source for electricity, energy savings would mean lesser air pollution due to the burning of coal and conservation of a non-renewable natural resource. Energy saving practices can also make your building eligible for green building certifications like LEED. Our Lighting solution also meets the WELL Building Standards!

Read more about our Advanced Lighting solution here and write back to us if you have any further questions. The 75F team would be delighted to come to your office space for a survey and suggest solutions for optimal energy savings and comfort.

Commercial Buildings Daylight Harvesting