The sunlight beam index

Abstract

This paper describes a fundamental rethinking of the basis for the evaluation of the sunlight potential of spaces. It provides a robust methodology to answer the question: how much sunlight can enter a room? The measure proposed is the cross-sectional area of beam sunlight that passes through a window. The new measure - called the sunlight beam index - is described, and examples are given for a realistic residential dwelling. The sunlight beam index is determined for a full year on a time-step basis (e.g. every 15 minutes), but it can be aggregated into monthly or yearly totals. The annual total provides a single measure for one window, a group of windows or all the windows for an entire dwelling.