The performance and energy saving potential of daylighting for an industrial building in Tianjin

It is important to predict the performance and energy saving potential of industrial buildings with electric lighting controls integrated with daylighting. This study presents the impacts of daylighting on the indoor environment and the energy saving potential of an industrial building in Tianjin, China, which is an elevator assemble factory. We simulated numerically indoor daylighting environment with Ecotect and Desktop Radiance and energy consumption with DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus. It has been found that the lowest indoor illuminance due to daylighting was 90 lux under a CIE overcast sky and 300 lux under a CIE clear sky. The electric lighting energy saving potential was 39.4% by using On/Off control integrated with daylighting. The largest potential could be 43.1% by using dimming control integrated with daylighting. The numerical simulation method can be used in predicting energy saving potential of industrial buildings and the use of skylight can improve indoor lighting environment and reduce the electricity consumption of artificial lighting effectively.