The Evaluation of Ceiling Depth Impact on Lighting and Overall Energy Consumption of a Building with T op-lighting System

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variation in building energy predictions caused by simulation settings related to building envelop thickness. The study assessed the ceiling depth impact on skylight energy performance through OpenStudio integrated Radiance and EnergyPlus simulation programs. A ceiling as deep as 1.5 to 3m was analyzed for skylight to roof ratios from 1% to 25%. The results indicated that the building ceiling depth negatively affected the capability of skylights to significantly reduce building energy consumption. Through a parametric analysis, the study concluded that 8%, 9%, 10% and 11% skylight to roof ratio were optimal in terms of total building energy consumption for a ceiling depth of 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m and 3m, respectively. In addition, the results showed that the usually recommended 5% skylight to roof ratio was only efficient when no ceiling depth was included in the simulation model. Furthermore, the study indicated that the building energy saved by the optimal skylight of each ceiling depth decreased as the ceiling depth deepened. The highest total building energy reduction was 9%, 7%, 5% and 3% for a ceiling depth of 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m and 3m, respectively. This study induced that the solar heat gains and daylight visible transmittance by ceiling depth were crucial in the predictions of skylight energy performance and should not be neglected through building simulation simplifications as it is commonly done in most simulation programs’ settings.