Analysis of daylight calculated using the EnergyPlus programme

In order to properly evaluate the thermal energy performance of buildings it is also necessary to analyse the use of daylight, since this influences the thermal load of a building. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the calculation of internal illuminances carried out using the EnergyPlus simulation programme. The analysis was carried out through a comparison of the Useful Daylight Illuminances (UDI) and the daylight factor (DF) estimated using the EnergyPlus programme with the results from another two programmes: Daysim/Radiance and TropLux. Also, the external horizontal illuminance estimated using EnergyPlus was compared with that measured in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, between 2003 and 2005. The simulations were carried out for three different rooms: one square (5 m × 5 m × 3 m), one shallow rectangular (10 m × 5 m × 3 m) and one deep rectangular (5 m × 10 m × 3 m). From this analysis it was verified that the EnergyPlus programme has a problem related to both the DF and the external illuminance values. A comparison between the DF values calculated using the three programmes shows that there is a problem in EnergyPlus related to solving the internal reflection, such that the greater the importance of the portion of light reflected, the greater the difference found between the programmes. A comparison between the calculated and measured external horizontal illuminances shows differences greater than 100% both for the diffuse and direct illuminances indicating that the EnergyPlus programme overestimates these values.