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Daylighting is becoming more popular and commonly incorporated into many building designs, including those of schools. Recent research has shown that children achieve significantly higher test scores in classrooms that are daylit than in those that are not, making daylighting one of the best investments for the learning environment. However, not all schools with windows can be considered daylit! In the past, careful daylighting designs were required for all schools in California. At one time, California had some of the best daylit schools in the country. Designers need to re-learn the basic principles of daylight design, and combine this understanding with new information about high performance materials and automatic controls to achieve optimum lighting quality and energy performance in new schools. Also see video segments in the School Siting and Energy Performance modules.

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Overview

Expert Lisa Heschong of the Heschong Mahone Group explains how you can improve teacher and student performance while cutting energy costs by integrating daylighting into you school.

Types of Daylighting

In this video, the CHPS credits for daylighting are defined and the various daylighting methodologies are introduced and discussed.

Integrating Daylighting

This video presents the advantages and methods of optimizing the mix of daylighting and electric lighting within a school, and identifies the CHPS credits for energy efficiency as it relates to lighting.

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