If a room has good natural lighting, then there is no need to turn the light on in the first place. This project simulates how different window configurations such as manual and automatic blinds, tinted glass or PV panels can affect internal lighting level. The project also considers how these lighting control strategies can impact on energy consumption.

A new metric for assessing the ‘hourly internal illuminance’ in offices is used to compare and rate different envelope strategies. The results obtained show that innovative building envelope systems have the potential to significantly improve the luminous environment inside office buildings and effectively contribute to reducing the demand for electric lighting.

In some areas, natural ventilation alone is sometime not enough to cool buildings. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect means buildings in the centre of London don’t cool enough in the evening to offset the heat gained during the day. This project looks at a new form of passive ventilation which was used during a redevelopment at UCL to cool buildings without the need for a separate air conditioning system.

Passive Downdraught Cooling system created uses a central light and ventilation stack. Chilled water is pumped in coils at the top of a ventilation stack to cool the air and force it down into the floors below. This provides a low energy solution to cooling where natural ventilation isn’t enough without resorting to mechanical air conditioning.

Multifunctional glazed facades use the sun to provide not just heat, but also aid cooling and ventilation. They require a large glazed area to work, and subsequently blinds are often used to prevent overheating and overexposure to daylight. These blinds can alter the airflow within the facade cavity which can affect the performance of the heating, cooling and ventilation systems. This project is an analysis of the impact blinds have on the facade system.

Using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, the heat transfer and changes in airflow for different blind configurations can be determined. This helps us to optimise blind performance and this improve the performance of multifunctional facades.

Glazing design can have an effect our health, behaviour, productivity and the amount of energy we use. Natural light has numerous health benefits, but can lead to overheating in the summer. This project looks at a number of solar control systems and created a modelling system to quantify their performance.

By combining dynamic lighting models with thermal models, the daylight, irradiation and annual energy performance can be examined. These models can then be adapted to different orientations, climates and glazing types. This process helps designers create more efficient shading systems.