by Nicolas Roy, VELUX Group.

A new report is available from Danish Building Research Institute presenting the results of an investigation comparing the use of nine simulation programs to calculate daylight factor levels in buildings.

The aim of the project was to obtain a better understanding of what daylight calculations show and also to gain knowledge of how the different daylight simulation programs perform compared with each other. Furthermore the aim was to provide knowledge of how to build up the 3D models that were to be daylight-analysed. It is an overall objective to enhance the quality of consultancy within the field of daylighting with a greater knowledge of the available daylight simulation programs and the accuracy of the simulated.

The programs investigated are: Radiance, Daysim, VELUX Daylight Visualizer, DIAlux, Ecotect, Ecotect/Radiance, IESve, LightCalc and Relux.

The full report is available at http://www.sbi.dk/indeklima/lys/daylight-calculations-in-practice