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EWEB Home > For your business > Energy Saving > Useful resources > Efficiency by Design

Daylighting boosts bottom line
The Co-Motion building in Eugene is a local example of good daylighting design.
It’s no surprise that the corner office is a symbol of success. But why is it so desirable?

It’s the windows, of course. Research conducted over the course of the last decade shows that natural light improves human productivity. Students learn faster. Retailers sell more merchandise. Employees produce more and stay longer in their jobs when daylight is abundant.

Here are a few examples from controlled scientific studies in which complicating factors had been controlled:
West Bend Mutual Insurance reduced energy costs by 40 percent with a light upgrade, while increasing productivity in the claims processing department by 16 percent, as reported by the National Lighting Bureau.

A study conducted between 1999 and 2001 showed retail sales in standardized big box stores were one to six percent greater in areas with natural light than those with artificial light. The financial benefits of increased productivity far surpassed energy savings (which were reported to be 24 cents per square foot). In addition, daylighting was found to be a statistically significant predictor of store success, along with traditional measures such as adequate parking and absence of nearby competitors.

Co-Motion includes a series of high windows called a light monitor common in buildings of more than 100 years ago.
 
Students in classrooms with abundant natural lighting learned 20 percent faster than students in rooms without daylight.

A hospital study showed that patients with a view of outdoor trees healed more quickly and left the hospital sooner than those looking out onto a brick wall.

The energy saving benefits of daylighting are well established and significant. However, in most businesses, humans are still the most expensive link in the chain of production. The financial return of building features that enhance employee productivity (including daylighting) has been estimated at 72 times greater than the direct energy savings. A small investment in the building will bring a large return.

Usefull Links
Heschong Mahone Group have conducted most of the research in this area. They recently completed a series of reports on Daylighting and Productivity.

The Better Bricks website describes how high-preformance buildings increase performance and asset value.

The Lighting Design Lab in Seattle offers information and instruction on daylighting and many other topics.
California High Performance Schools promotes daylighting as well as a host of other building features.

Daylight Dividends published by the Lighting Research Center offers access to many reports on the benefits of daylighting.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture has begun a project to quantify and compare the costs and benefits of advanced building systems, including daylighting.

This article originally appeared in Efficiency By Design, Winter 2005

 

 
 
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