Energy efficient residential lighting: application in HERB project

Residential lighting accounts for approximately 15% of home energy use and is widely acknowledged as a large, important, and achievable opportunity for efficiency savings. With the increase of the energy consumption in segments of the economy, developing more efficient systems and incorporating the use of daylight is becoming increasingly important. Under the European Union 7th Framework Program Project HERB (Holistic Energy efficient Retrofitting of Residential Buildings), a consortium of 11 European countries will develop and demonstrate new energy efficient new and innovative technologies and solutions for retrofitting older buildings. Technologies and energy efficient solutions also include energy efficient lighting and utilization of daylight, which shall be installed and monitored in a number of typical residential buildings in six EU countries. In order to understand the potential for utilization of daylight, a climate-based daylight analysis is performed for the sample residential building with various window configurations and shading system (automated blind system). Various building configuration scenarios are evaluated and energy efficient lighting control alternatives are also considered. The use of lighting and shading controls is also examined with behaviour profiles. The evaluation is presented using climate-based daylighting metrics such as Continuous Daylight Autonomy (DAcon), Useful daylight illuminance (UDI), as well as annual energy use for lighting- kWh/m² a.