Energy Saving Through Daylighting Design | Danpal

Careful design of daylight within a building is one of the most fundamental ways to ensure a building maximizes its environmental performance. By designing a building envelope to allow adequate levels of daylight to the building interior, demand for artificial lighting and electricity consumption can be reduced. Careful product selection and orientation can also reduce the need for heating, cooling, and artificial ventilation.

Good daylighting solutions require an integrated approach to building design where the functional requirements for light, ventilation and thermal comfort of the building users are considered alongside the building form and design concepts throughout the design process. Fundamental to good lighting design is building orientation, design of the roof, facades, the selection of glazing solutions and daylight controls such as blinds or louvers.

Danpal and Daylight Design

Products & Systems

Danpal has a suite of translucent, insulated products that allow in daylight and help control the thermal comfort of a building interior. Danpal’s commitment to environmental performance extends to the whole life cycle of their products including, manufacturing, installation, use, maintenance, and end-of-life recycling.

All Danpal products are manufactured according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. They require simplified maintenance through high pressure cleaning with fresh water, minimizing the need for soap or detergent. Danpal panels and waste are 100% recyclable with production off-cuts regranlulated by extrusion.

These systems require low on-site fabrication and handling: In 95% of cases, Danpal delivers systems that are manufactured to size (i.e. minimizing waste by eliminating off-cuts on-site).

Software

Danpal uses state-of-the-art software to create lighting and solar energy simulations. This software utilizes the company’s 30-year heritage as a specialist in daylight architectural innovation. Danpal’s products are built into the simulation software so architects and designers can monitor the internal heat and light levels during a preliminary design process by testing the diffusing and insulating capacity of various Danpal products and systems.

The simulation software enables architects and designers to choose the most appropriate system design for their energy and lighting needs by "playing" with different product specification options and the structure area. Taking into account the system’s physical characteristics (light transmission, solar factor, U value, etc.), the software creates a simulation of daylight and energy consumption, then provides a map showing the natural illuminance levels throughout the building.