Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Comprehensive analysis on thermal and daylighting performance

of glazing and shading designs on ofce building envelope
in cooling-dominant climates
Yu Huang, Jian-lei Niu , Tse-ming Chung
Department of Building Service Engineering, Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region

h i g h l i g h t s

 We conducted an evaluation on the performance of energy-efcient envelope designs.

 Both thermal and daylighting performance of glazing and shading were considered.
 In cooling-dominant climate, low-e glazing is the best energy-efcient window design.
 Double-layer glazing performs the worst; overhang performs better than interior blind.
 Orientation and latitude can signicantly affect the performance of window design.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Conducting energy-efcient designs on building window can be a solution to relieving the pressure
Received 15 April 2014 caused by growing building energy consumption. In this paper, a series of simulation studies were carried
Received in revised form 28 July 2014 out to evaluate the performance of several popular energy-efcient window designs in cooling-dominant
Accepted 30 July 2014
climates. Both thermal and daylighting performance were considered during the analysis. Results indi-
Available online 24 August 2014
cate that among all designs studied, low-e glazing achieves a best performance, while double-layer glaz-
ing performs the worst. Energy-efcient designs on the east and west orientations are the most cost-
Keywords:
effective in cooling-dominant climates. As latitude rises, the performance of window designs on the south
Shading design
Low-e glazing
orientation is getting better. It is also discovered that only in area very close to equator performance of
Building envelope north facing window designs is satisfactory. Furthermore, as the reectivity of blind louver decreases,
Energy-efcient design both thermal and daylighting performances drop.
Solar heat gain 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction As early as 2000, Nielsen et al. presented a work of an easy

Window provides the occupants with a connection to the out-
side environment. The open view through windows is considered
as a highly desirable feature for ofce building especially in high-
rise cities. Glazing area is a key factor being noticed in building
energy consumption.
As the most common fenestration style, window plays a very
important part in providing thermal comfort and optimum illumi-
nation levels in building, and also a very popular architectural form.
Due to its relatively high U-value than wall area, the thermal perfor-
mance of glazing material is a top concern within professionals.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 2766 7781; fax: +852 2765 7198.
E-mail addresses: 10900570r@polyu.edu.hk (Y. Huang), bejlniu@polyu.edu.hk
(J.-l. Niu), betmchng@polyu.edu.hk (T.-m. Chung).
method for determining the net energy gain through window area.
The method took into consideration of orientation, shading and
glazing material [1]. Menzies and Wherrett conducted several sur-
vey studies to look into the sustainability and comfort issues of
multi-glazed window. They claimed that during design of window
area, the architects considered more about comfort. When it comes
to sustainability, they did not consider much [2]. Aydin performed
a numerical analysis on the heat transfer process in double pane
windows using a nite difference technique. He discovered that
for heat transfer through windows, there exist optimum thick-
nesses of air layer between glasses [3,4]. Tian et al. developed a
generalized window energy rating system for typical ofce build-
ing application and conducted a simulation study utilizing a typical
Hong Kong ofce model. They claimed that their approach took
both daylighting and thermal performance into consideration.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.07.100
0306-2619/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
216 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
They also claimed that their approach could be applied directly in
area with similar climatic and geographic conditions to Hong Kong
[5]. Ochoa et al. conducted a simulation study tend to develop a
design method for windows which took into consideration both
low energy consumption and high visual comfort. They claimed
that since the two aspects cannot be satised at the same time,
necessary balance between different factors should be selected
very carefully. They also discovered that choosing visual comfort
criteria is more difcult [6]. Tsikaloudaki et al. performed a simu-
lation work in an ISO reference room to study the impact of differ-
ent parameters on window performance in ofce buildings in
Mediterranean zone. They discovered that solar transmittance
played a more important role than thermal transmittance. They
also discovered that if the solar transmittance is low, the fenestra-
tion would not be quite important [7].
Gasparella et al. developed a simulation work to study the
impacts of glazing type, window size, orientation and internal heat
gain to energy performance of residential building in four central
and southern Europe cities. They found that the application of large
glazing area could enhance winter performance. But in summer,
shading system should be applied to avoid heat gain, south facing
window performed best in winter. They also found that thermal
transmittance appeared to be the most important factor that
affects the performance of window [8]. Singh and Garg collected
the parameters of different window glazing in Indian market and
conducted an energy rating. They tend to make a reference for
designing buildings with different purpose and climate [9]. Bojic
et al. also investigated the performance of clear glazing, tinted
glazing and reective glazing in high-rise residential buildings
and claimed that before assessing or retrotting residential build-
ings, annual cooling load reduction, energy consumption and eco-
nomic appraisal should be conducted beforehand [10]. Poirazis
et al. conducted a simulation work on energy performance of
glazed ofce buildings in Sweden. They claimed that in order to
keep the energy performance of full glazed single skin ofce build-
ing acceptable, a well-designed shading system is necessary [11].
Wong et al. conducted a simulation study on energy and thermal
comfort performance of double-glazed faade in Singapore. They
claimed that due to the natural ventilation between two glazed
layers, double layer faade could minimize energy consumption
while enhance thermal comfort. They also claimed that during high
humidity period, introduction of mechanical fans could solve the
condensation problem [12]. Smith et al. investigated a new retrot
measure which installed a secondary glazing on existing single-
glazed window. They tested four different secondary glazing
options and claimed that all four different glazing could signicant
reduce heat gain through window area, and the retrot measure
could considered to be a sound alternative for existing single-
glazed window [13]. Arici and Karabay calculated the optimum
air layer thickness in four different climate zones in Turkey under
heating condition. They claimed that the optimum thickness is
between 12 and 15 mm. They also claimed that with application
of a well-designed window, a saving of up to 60% could be achieved
[14]. Ismail et al. conducted a simulation study to compare the
thermal efciencies of double layer glass window lled with
absorbing gas exposed to solar radiation with both single layer
glass window and double layer glass window naturally ventilated
in hot climate. Three different mixtures of absorbing gas were sim-
ulated. They claimed that double layer glass window with absorb-
ing gas and PCM performed better than regular double layer glass
window naturally ventilated [15,16]. Manz et al. investigated the
impact of different parameters on the thermal performance of tri-
ple vacuum glazing through a simulation study. They suggested
that even considering the effect of support pillar radius, separation
and thermal conductivity, the performance of triple vacuum glaz-
ing is still better than other insulated glazing [17].
Chow et al. made a very detailed review on the state-of-art tech-
nologies of window glazing applied in cooling dominate climate.
They introduced traditional single-glazed and double-glazed win-
dows. They also paid much attention on newly developed water-
ow window [18]. Bojic and Yik investigated the application of
low-e glazing to high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong
through a simulation work. They received a saving of 4% during
the simulation and claimed that the application of expensive
advanced glazing in residential building may not be economically
viable in Hong Kong. They also found that the location of the target
room within the building played a very important role [19]. Assem
and Al-Mumin utilized EnergyPlus software to simulate the glazing
performance in fully glazed tall ofce building in Kuwait. They dis-
covered that glazing heat gain is a major part in ofce building heat
gain. In order to meet the government code, low-e glazing is neces-
sary in government building, while in private building, some extra
measure should also be applied [20]. Fang et al. conducted a series
of experimental and simulation study to test the thermal perfor-
mance of low-e coating applied on vacuum glazing with a three-
dimensional nite volume model. They claimed that while the
emittance is small, the application of two coatings on glazing could
only offer a very limited improvement in thermal performance.
Under most circumstances, application of only one coating with
vacuum glazing could already provide an excellent thermal perfor-
mance [21].
Aldawoud modeled the performance of an electrochromic glaz-
ing system in hot dry climate and compared the result with tradi-
tional xed shading device. He claimed that though higher cost,
the electrochromic glazing could signicantly reduce annual and
peak cooling load compared with external shading device [22].
Lee and Tavil also conducted a simulation work to assess the energy
and visual performance of electrochromic windows with overhang.
They tested performance of various combinations of overhang posi-
tion and control strategies. They claimed that a reduction of 10%
could be achieved in cold climate, and a reduction of 5% could be
achieved in hot climate. They also claimed that performance of
electrochromic glazing on moderate-area window is not that signif-
icant compared with large window [23]. Dussault et al. conducted a
simulation work to investigate a double-layer smart window with a
controllable absorbing layer added on the interior surface of the
exterior glass pane in Quebec City, Canada. They claimed that appli-
cation of the smart window on south and west faades could
receive a best performance, while application on north faade is
not better than widely-applied low-e glass [24]. Inoue et al. exam-
ined the performance of an autonomous responsive dimming glass
through experiments and simulation. The dimming glass consisted
of a transparent heating layer, an electrochromic layer and a poly-
mer gel layer. They claimed that with appropriate control of the
heating layer, the shading effects of the dimming glass is signicant
[25]. Lu and Law investigated the overall energy performance of a
single-glazed photovoltaic window in a typical Hong Kong ofce
building through a simulation work. They took into consideration
not only the heat gain reduction from solar radiation, but also the
electricity generation as well as the daylighting performance. They
claimed that the application of PV window could reduce around
65% of the total heat gain through window area, and an extra
9001300 kW h annual electricity could be expected. They also
claimed that in the overall energy performance, the impact of ther-
mal performance is the greatest, while the impact of daylighting
performance is not signicant [26]. Chow et al. also conducted a
simulation work on the overall performance of PV ventilated win-
dow, they discovered that compared to conventional single glazing,
a natural-ventilated PV window could reduce the space cooling load
by about 28%. They also claimed that different orientations would
receive a different energy performance, and a best performance
could be received with a solar cell transmittance of 0.450.55
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
[27,28]. Chow and Li also constructed a water-ow window to test
its performance in practical building-like condition. They also built
a mathematical model to simulate the annual energy performance.
They claimed that a reduction of 8% could be achieved while com-
pared to normal double-glazed window [29]. Chow et al. tried to
apply ventilation in double glazed window glazing. They also con-
ducted a simulation study to research the impact of different con-
gurations. Their nding indicated that in warm area like Hong
Kong, a better energy performance could be achieved in summer
with the application of ventilated window glazing [30]. Jonsson
and Roos tested the visual and energy performance of antireection
coating. They applied the coating on different types of glazing and
simulated their performance. They discovered that in most cases,
antireection coating performed well, but when applied on low-e
glazing, the antireection coating did not make any impact [31].
Windows also provides daylighting, which helps to reduce
energy consumption from articial lighting system as well as air-
conditioning load. However, large window area can also lead to a
large amount of unwanted solar radiation heat gain. Achieving a
balance between letting in daylight and blocking out solar heat
gain is a major challenge.
The US government proposed a project named Green Light Pro-
gram in 1991, with the purpose to promote the development of
efcient lighting and to control the lighting electricity. Policies
such as scal subsidies and time-of-use price were also carried
out. It was believed that proper daylighting design can largely
reduce the building energy consumption, and the vision efciency
could also be improved at the same time [32,33].
Li and Tsang carried out detailed studies on key building param-
eters affecting the daylighting designs, and found out that daylight-
ing performance in ofce buildings as well as school buildings could
be quite effective, in which situation about 25% of the total electric
lighting energy consumption could be saved. It was also found that
the scale of the room and the shading option could largely affect the
daylighting performance of the buildings. These basic studies laid a
solid foundation for further investigations [34].
Window opening provides the nearby space a satisfying day-
lighting level, but the day lighting level deep inside the room
may not always be desirable. In order to fulll the minimum
requirement of visual environment, an articial lighting system is
necessary. Early studies mainly focus on the simulation of energy
saving from the articial lighting dimming as a function of the day-
lighting availability. Bodart and De Herde developed a calculation
model to predict the energy consumption of the interaction of day-
lighting and articial lighting system. They argued that only con-
sidering the quantity of daylight, articial lighting energy
consumption could be reduced by 5080% [35]. Li et al. discovered
that with the application of high frequency dimming control of
daylighting equipment, the articial lighting energy consumption
could be reduced by more than 30% [33]. They also discovered that
utilizing energy-efcient light tting with dimming control and
proper daylighting schemes, the energy consumption could be fur-
ther cut. The performances of two basic categories of photoelectric
lighting controls: the onoff control and the dimming control were
also discussed. It was believed that when it came to brightness of
the working plane, the daylight availability is the key parameter
to estimate the energy saving under onoff and dimming controls,
as the daylight availability decreases, the dimming control acts
more efciently, but when it was in a high level, the onoff control
turned out to be better [36].
As the awareness of daylighting getting popular, various sorts of
daylighting equipment have been manufactured. The application
of advanced daylighting equipment is expected to reduce solar
heat gain while improving the comfort level. The number of studies
on these daylighting devices is large. Table 1 gives a summary of
representative studies on the topic.
217
Recently, with the development of building energy simulation
software, researchers were able to make comparisons and summa-
rize principles from large number of cases. Many literatures focus
on the structure and optical parameters of window glazing, aiming
at exploring their effects on the lighting energy consumption. The
ideal window size, direction and types to minimize energy con-
sumption of buildings were studied by Inanici and Nur Demirbilek
[46]. Through large number of case simulations, the effect of indoor
temperature setting point on the daylighting performance of win-
dows was studied by Kontoleon and Bikas [47]. They claimed that
the glazed opening percentages had a huge effect on thermal per-
formance of the buildings. Al-Homound also simulated the day-
lighting performance under different climate situation and made
interesting analysis with other experimental studies [48]. More-
over, Johnson et al. simulated the economically optimum window
area and orientations through software simulation [49]. With the
support of detailed data, researchers could also evaluate the per-
formance of advanced shading or window materials [50].
From the above literature review, it is obvious that in thermal
performance aspect, there have been several studies on energy per-
formance of blind and overhang shading systems. Key variables that
affect the performance have also been investigated. But most stud-
ies focus on residential building, research on commercial building is
limited. Current studies tend to consider the building envelope as a
whole, the impact of orientation is often ignored. Majority of reports
focus on simulation or experiment on one single local building, the
impacts of geography location are not discussed. Besides, though
there have been many studies on automated blinds, its performance
is not stable and its application is not widely acceptable. In most
cases, designers still prefer conventional blind devices. While in
visual performance aspect, daylighting performance of window
glazing and shading device has been investigated. The indoor day-
lighting illumination level and distribution under different devices
and control strategies has also been studied. The energy saving from
articial lighting system under different daylighting devices and
control strategies has been discussed. However, daylight is always
coupled with solar radiation. Daylighting application will always
bring in solar radiation heat gain for building inner space, which
would become cooling load for air-conditioning system eventually.
These two conict factors make it complicated to achieve an opti-
mum design for transparent surface of building envelope. There
are few literatures on this issue in existing studies [51].
Lighting and air-conditioning energy consumptions are the top
two components of total building energy consumption. In this
paper, a simulation study was conducted to study the comprehen-
sive daylighting and thermal performance of energy-efcient win-
dow designs in cooling-dominant climates. Several popular design
patterns, namely double-layer glazing, low-e glazing, interior blind
and overhang were selected. The main object of the study is to
evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these popular design patterns
and clearly indicate the impacts of orientation as well as latitudes,
so that detailed guidelines could be achieved for practical building
design in cooling-dominant climates.
2. Methodology
Two popular building simulation programs, namely EnergyPlus
and Daysim were used in combination in this research. EnergyPlus
is a building energy simulation program, which is based on the
state-space techniques, to calculate the space load required to
maintain a set condition in a building installed with a variety of
specied HVAC systems. Many previous studies have proved its
accuracy and adaptability [5254]. Daysim is a dynamic RADI-
ANCE-based daylighting simulation program that calculates the
annual daylight amount received within buildings. Daysim allows
218 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
Table 1
Summary of literature review result on energy saving potential of advanced daylighting equipment in buildings.
Authors Concern addressed
Galasiu et al. [37] The impact of window blinds on two
photocontrolled lighting system:
continuous dimming and automatic
on/off
Athienitis and To develop a methodology for
Tzempelikos simulation of ofce equipped with
[38] motorized reective blind in
between double-layer glazing
Chaiwiwatworakul The performance of automated blind
et al. [39] cooperation with dimming
controlled articial lighting system
in tropical region
Lee and Selkowitz The lighting energy saving potential
[40] of two different daylighting control
system on automated rolling shades
Kim et al. [41] The lighting energy saving ability of
automated blind and the
insufciency of the control algorithm
Inoue [42] The impact of automatic response
dimming glass on the air-
conditioning load
Li et al. [43] The impacts of the solar lm coating
on cooling energy requirements and
electric lighting loads
Ghisia and Tinker The practicality of advanced
[44] daylighting equipment with the
application of ber optics in Brazil
and the UK
Menzies and The sustainability and comfort issues
Wherrett [2] of several multi-glazing windows
Sullivan et al. [45] To develop a methodology to
calculate the HVAC and lighting
energy saving from application of
daylighting device
users to calculate the annual electric lighting energy consumption
under certain illumination level set-point. Daysim could be directly
coupled with thermal simulation program such as EnergyPlus
[55,56].
A 20-oor high-rise ofce building model was dened for the
simulation study. The ofce building is a square building with a
northsouth orientation. The oor area is 100 m  100 m. The
height of oor is 3.2 m. The window-wall ratio of each vertical fa-
ade is 0.35. There is no window glazing on roof area. The detailed
inside partition of a typical oor is presented in Fig. 1.
Four cities with different climates were selected. The four cities
from south to north are Singapore, Hong Kong, Miami and Houston.
All the four cities are located in Northern Hemisphere. Their lati-
tudes are 1180 , 22150 , 25470 and 29450 . Since over 75% of the
world populations live within 2060 north latitude, the selection
of these four cities is considered representative. Within these four
cities, solar elevation angle at the same time decrease from south
to north. All the four cities are located within cooling-dominant
climates.
Methodology
On-site measurement in two side-by-side ofces.
Lighting energy consumption was recorded from
6 AM to 6 PM for a year
An experiment is conducted to achieve the
daylight transmittance equations of the window
system as a function of sky condition. A simulation
is then processed to determine the energy saving
from the system
An experiment was conducted in a test building. A
dimming controller was installed in the lighting
system. Indoor illumination level as well as
lighting energy consumption was measured
A 9-month monitored eld study was carried out
in a 401 m2 unoccupied mockup. Indoor
illumination level as well as lighting energy
consumption was measured
A survey is rst conducted to collect the blind use
pattern. With the operation data two control
patterns were developed to apply in the
experiment. The temperatures in test rooms with
no air-conditioning were tested
Several window systems with the combination of
thermotropic glass, low-e glass, air gap and phase-
change materials were prepared and measured in a
building with no HVAC system. The indoor
temperature was recorded. A series of simulation
works were also conducted
A eld measurement in an ofce building was A 30% decline in solar radiation heat gain is
arranged. The solar radiation heat, indoor
illumination level and energy consumption were
recorded
A methodology is rst developed to calculate the
lighting energy saving from the illumination level.
Then a large number of simulations are carried out
to get the daylighting effect of ber optics
A large scale case study involving four buildings
was held. The energy use in the buildings was
recorded. A survey was conducted to determine
the comfort situation
Large number of DOE-2 based simulation was
undertaken to form a data base, summary of
principles is then conducted from the data base
Fig. 1. Partition of a typical oor of the building.
2.1. Simulation set up for thermal performance
The details of building construction, including structure and
materials of wall, roof, ceiling, oor and window were dened
Conclusion
Daylighting can reduce 5060% of lighting energy
consumption in the building. Window blind would
largely reduce the energy saving due to
daylighting. Of the two photocontrolled lighting
system studied, automatic on/off system achieves
a greater saving
The lighting energy saving from this window
system could be more than 75% in overcast days
and even 90% for clear days. Meanwhile, proper
control of blinds can avoid glare. However,
frequent movement of blinds should be prevented
The application of step-less controlled blind can
result in a lighting energy saving of up to 80%. At
the same time, the indoor visual environment can
also be improved
Work plane illumination level can be maintained
for over 95% of the monitored period. A lighting
energy saving of 510% and 2540% can be
achieved for dimming control and DALI-based
control, respectively
The automated blind can reduce the room
temperature by around 23 C while no air-
conditioning is applied. However, when it comes to
thermal comfort, automated blind performs worse
than manual blinds
A reduction of at least 20% can be expected from
air-conditioning energy consumption. The indoor
visual environment is also improved
observed. The electric lighting energy saving
depends largely on the amount of diffuse radiation.
Also, the performance of solar lm coating
depends largely on the building shape and type of
HVAC system
With the application of ber optics daylighting
system, lighting energy savings ranging from 17.7%
to 92.0% could be achieved in the seven cities in
Brazil and savings ranging from 10.8% to 44.0%
could be achieved in the UK
The daylighting effects of window devices studied
can reduce energy use in buildings while make the
environment more comfortable. However, if
comfort issue was considered rst, the energy
saving effect will be weakened
A generally good agreement between prediction
result from the method developed and case study
can be achieved
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228 219

strictly according to local standards of building design [5759]. The
detailed structure and parameters of wall and roof are shown in
Table 2. The peak occupant density was 13 m2/person. The peak
lighting power density was 15 W/m2. The peak equipment power
density was 10 W/m2. The minimum fresh air supply was 8 L/s/
person. The cooling load caused by inltration plays an important
part in the building cooling load. In the simulation study, a consis-
tent 1 m3/m2 h air inltration was applied, so that the simulation
result could be as realistic as possible. The operation schedules of
occupant, lighting and equipment are presented in Fig. 2 (in air-
conditioning schedule, 1 on y-axis stands for ON status for
air-conditioning system while 0 stands for OFF status). During
air-conditioning hours, the indoor air temperature was set at 25 C.
The simulation time step was 10 min. The simulation period was
1 year.
2.2. Simulation set up for daylighting performance
There are two major factors which directly affect the quality of
visual environment: illumination level and illumination distribu-
tion. If the illumination level is too low, articial lighting system
will be necessary to maintain a visual comfortable environment.
If a signicant ratio of luminance appears within a small area, a
glare appears, occupants will also prefer to articial lighting to
maintain a satisfactory visual environment. During the daylighting
simulation study, both factors should be considered.
During the daylighting simulation, the peak lighting power
density was 15 W/m2. The indoor illumination level set point was
500 lux. The lighting control system was set to be Manual on/off
switch near the door which is a popular lighting control type in
commercial buildings. The illumination measuring point matrix
was distributed uniformly into each ofce. The height of illumina-
tion measuring points was 0.8 m, which is a typical height of work-
ing desk. The maximum allowable Discomfort Glare Index was 22
[60].
Two different occupant behavior models were applied. For the
rst occupant behavior model, occupants were considered to have
no daylighting awareness. They would simply turn on the light
above their seats once they arrive at the ofce, and switch it off
while they leave. Under this condition, there was no dimming con-
trol of the articial lighting. The articial lighting system was set to
be strictly operated according to the schedules in Fig. 2. The simu-
lation based on the rst occupant behavior model is serving as the
Base Case. While in the contrast cases, the second occupant behav-
ior model was applied, while the occupants were supposed to con-
sider daylighting as priority. While they arrive at the ofce, the
articial lighting system would be switched off by default, and
daylighting is rst considered. Only when the illumination level
is lower than 500 lux or glare appears, articial lighting system
will be turned on.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Simulation result of the thermal performance of different energy-
efcient window designs
3.1.1. Glazing materials
Double-layer glazing and low-e glazing can be considered as dif-
ferent kinds of glazing materials, thus their performances are dis-
cussed in one section in the study. The double-layer glazing
applied here was two layers of clear glass described in Table 2 with
a 6 mm air layer in between. The low-e glazing applied here was
double-layer glazing with a low-e coating applied on the inner
surface of the outer glazing layer. The optical features of the

Table 2
Detailed data of building materials.

Material Thickness (m) Conductivity (W/m K) Density (kg/m3) Specic heat (J/kg K)
A. Wall in Hong Kong and Singapore
White mosaic tile 0.005 1.5 2500 840
Cement render 0.01 0.72 1860 840
Concrete panel 0.1 2.16 2400 657
Gypsum plaster 0.01 0.51 1120 960
B. Roof in Hong Kong and Singapore
Concrete tiles 0.025 1.1 2100 657
Asphalt 0.02 1.2 2300 1700
Cement screed 0.05 0.72 1860 840
Expanded polystyrene 0.05 0.035 23 1470
Concrete 0.15 2.16 2400 657
Gypsum plaster 0.01 0.51 1120 960
C. Wall in Houston and Miami
1IN stucco 0.0253 0.6918 1856 837
8IN concrete HW 0.2032 1.311 2240 837
IN gypsum 0.0127 0.16 785 830
D. Roof in Houston and Miami
Roof membrane 0.0095 0.16 1121 1460
IEAD NonRes roof 0.0125 0.049 265 837
Metal decking 0.0015 45 7680 418

Properties Data
E. Optical features of glass layer applied in simulation
Solar transmittance at normal incidence 0.708
Front side solar reectance at normal incidence 0.075
Back side solar reectance at normal incidence 0.075
Visible transmittance at normal incidence 0.753
Front side visible reectance at normal incidence 0.075
Back side visible reectance at normal incidence 0.075
Infrared transmittance at normal incidence 0
Front side infrared emissivity at normal incidence 0.84
Back side infrared emissivity at normal incidence 0.84
220 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
1. Occupant
3. Lighting
Fig. 2. Schedules setting for occupant, lighting, equipment and fresh air supply.
low-e glazing layer are listed in Table 3. Fig. 3 presents the space
cooling load caused by window heat gain in different cases. It
should be noted that in the following discussion heat gain result
is converted into heat gain per unit area of window surface.
The application of double-layer glazing in cooling-dominant
area can reduce window heat gain by around 1520%. Compared
to single-layer glazing, double-layer glass has an extra glass layer
which can help block out part of solar radiation. When radiation
projected on the second glazing surface, part of it travels directly
through, part of it is reected back to the backside of the rst glaz-
ing layer, and the rest of it is absorbed by the glazing material. Part
of the absorbed radiation will be radiated into the room by long-
wavelength radiation. The reected part of radiation will again
be absorbed and reected by the rst glazing layer, and then
repeats previous process. Therefore while introducing in the sec-
ond glazing layer what really matters is the blocking effect of
glass material. With respect to low-e glazing, the performance is
Table 3
Optical features of low-e glazing layer applied in simulation.
Properties
Solar transmittance at normal incidence
Front side solar reectance at normal incidence
Back side solar reectance at normal incidence
Visible transmittance at normal incidence
Front side visible reectance at normal incidence
Back side visible reectance at normal incidence
Infrared transmittance at normal incidence
Front side infrared emissivity at normal incidence
Back side infrared emissivity at normal incidence
2. Equipment
4. Air-conditioning
even better. While low-e glazing presented in Table 3 is applied,
window heat gain was cut by almost 50%. While low-e glazing with
better optical parameters is applied, better thermal performance
can be expected.
3.1.2. Interior blind
Compared to external shading devices like overhang, one key
advantage of blind is its adjustability. The occupants can adjust
the tilt angle of louvers according to outdoor weather condition.
Obviously the performance of blind depends largely on the tilt
angle of blind louver. Fig. 4 below presents the denition of tilt
angle used in the simulation. As the tilt angle gets smaller, less
solar radiation is allowed to get into the building. Window heat
gain is reduced, while daylighting effect is also weakened. Accord-
ing to previous study, occupants do not adjust interior blind very
often. They tend to set the blinds in certain positions based on
long-term perceptions of sun light and sun heat, and then just
leave them there [61,62]. In this study, the impact of occupant
behavior was investigated. Performances of interior blind with
three different tilt angles were simulated. The simulation results
of the thermal performance are presented in Fig. 5.
Data
In Singapore, the interior blind on the east and west facades can
0.4 cause about 20% more heat gain reduction of the building than
0.281 those on the south and north orientations. The blind on the south
0.403
0.742
faade reduces the least heat gain compared with those on the
0.064 other facades. In Hong Kong, the blind on the south faade contrib-
0.052 utes almost the same as those on the east and west faades. The
0 north facing blind reduces only less than half of the heat gain com-
0.84
pared with devices facing the other orientations. With respect to
0.05
Houston and Miami, performance of the blind on the north faade
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
A. Singapore
C. Miami
Fig. 3. Thermal performances of double-layer glazing and low-e glazing.
Fig. 4. Denition of blind tilt angle.
drops to only 1/3 of blind facing the other orientations. Similar
conclusions can also be achieved from the simulation result with
different blind tilt angles.
The inuence of louver tilt angle on the blind is quite signi-
cant. In most cases, setting the slat angle at 90 can only reduce
the window heat gain by about 1520%, while setting the slat angle
at 30 a reduction of around 4050% is achieved. It can be con-
cluded that as the slat angle decreases, the thermal performance
of the blind will be even better.
221
B. Hong Kong
D. Houston
Louvers reectivity is also an important parameter that affects
the blinds performance. Fig. 6 presents the thermal performance
of interior blinds with different reectivity in Hong Kong. It is clear
that blind with higher louver reectivity performs better. Same
conclusion can be achieved from simulation result in other cities.
3.1.3. Overhang
Overhang may be the most traditional and popular shading
design in the world. The depth of overhang is a key factor that
affects the performance. Fig. 7 presents the thermal performance
of overhangs with depth from 0.6 m to 1 m. The height of window
in this study was 1.2 m.
When the overhang depth is more than half of the windows
height, the impact of overhang depth is not very signicant. The
impact of depth is higher on overhangs facing the east and west.
In practical projects, overhangs facing east and west can be longer.
With respect to the north faade, a short overhang or interior shad-
ing could be considered.
3.2. Simulation result of the daylighting performance of different
energy-efcient window designs
In the following section, the daylighting performances of differ-
ent glazing and shading designs will be presented and discussed. In
order to investigate the impact of orientation, windows facing dif-
ferent orientations are discussed separately. Within all the contrast
cases, energy saved from daylighting is divided into four parts. In
all the gures presented in this section, the South bar stands
for the lighting energy consumption under this condition: in this
ofce building, occupants in all the south facing rooms are acting
according to the second occupant behavior model as described in
the Methodology part, while occupants in all the other rooms are
acting according to the rst occupant behavior model. Similar illus-
trations can be applied to other orientations. In this way, the effect
222 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
A. Singapore
C. Miami
Fig. 5. Effect of tilt angle on blind performance.
Fig. 6. Thermal performances of interior blind with different reectivity in Hong
Kong.
of different window designs on the daylighting performance of
windows facing a specic orientation can be achieved separately.
Fig. 8 gives the annual articial lighting electricity reduction
from application of daylighting strategy. Case A, Case B, Case C
and Case D are lighting energy consumption in the Contrast Case.
Case A stands for the result with the application of double-layer
glazing. Case B stands for the result with the application of low-e
glazing. Case C stands for the result with the application of interior
blind (the blind tilt angle is 90). Case D stands for the result with
the application of overhang (the depth of the overhang is 1 m).
Before the discussion, it should be noticed that in the Base Case,
the annual lighting energy consumption is 7.8  106 kW h, while in
all the Contrast Cases, the annual lighting energy saving are around
1.5  105 kW h. The proportion is small. The reason lies in the
shape coefcient of the model building. The shape coefcient is
the ratio of the area of buildings external surface to the buildings
volume. The shape coefcient characterizes the impact of external
environment to the buildings indoor environment. A small shape
B. HongKong
D. Houston
coefcient stands for a small impact of external environment to
the building indoor environment [63]. In this study, the model
building was a simple square building with a large interior zone.
The shape coefcient can be calculated to be 0.056, which means
the impact of outdoor environment on the building energy con-
sumption is rather small. In this case, the lighting energy saving
from daylighting is also relatively small. From the simulation result
of the case it can be concluded that in buildings with small shape
coefcient, the design of window should consider thermal perfor-
mance as priority. In buildings with larger shape coefcient, day-
lighting performance will be better. However, it does not mean
daylighting is not effective in ofce buildings. Actually, though
the proportion is small, the lighting energy saved from daylighting
is still rather considerable. Besides, the difference among different
cases also follows certain pattern that worth discussion.
From the simulation result it is clear that in almost all cases,
daylighting performances on the east and west orientations are
better than those on the south and north orientations. In low
latitude area like Singapore, the difference is much larger. In dou-
ble-layer glazing cases, the difference between daylighting perfor-
mance of the east, west orientations and the south, north
orientations is within 10%. In interior blind cases, the difference
is almost 50% in Singapore and 25% in Hong Kong.
Compared with double-layer glazing and low-e glazing cases,
daylighting performances of interior blind in Singapore and Hong
Kong are signicantly worse. While in Miami and Houston, the
gap between shading device and energy-efcient glazing is much
smaller. In cooling-dominant area with relatively low latitude,
application of interior blind will signicantly affect the daylighting
performance, while in area with high latitude the inuence is not
that much. The daylighting performance of overhang equipped
window is almost the same as the daylighting performance of dou-
ble-layer glazing and low-e glazing. Daylighting performance of
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228 223

A. Singapore B. Hong Kong

C. Miami
D. Houston
Fig. 7. Thermal performance of overhang with different depth.

1. Case A 2. Case B

3. Case C 4. Case D
Fig. 8. Annual lighting energy consumption in different cases.
224 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
interior blind is the worst within all window design measures
studied.
The daylighting performance of interior blind is also signi-
cantly affected by the louver tilt angle. As shown in Fig. 9, in Singa-
pore and Hong Kong, the daylighting performance drops rapidly
with the tilt angle. While the tilt angle decreases to 30, Daylight-
ing prots on the south and north orientations completely disap-
pear. Daylighting prots on the east and west orientations also
drop to a very low level. In Miami and Houston, though there is
a drop on daylighting performance when the tilt angle gets smaller,
daylighting effects on all orientations are still retained.
The reectivity of blind louver is also an important factor that
affects the performance of blind. Fig. 10 gives the simulation result
for the annual lighting energy saving with different blind louver
reectivity. Due to length limitation, only result of Hong Kong is
presented here. From above data an interesting conclusion can be
achieved. With the decreasing of reectivity, the daylighting per-
formance of blind also drops. The performance of blind can easily
be halved when the reectivity drops to 0.3. It is also clear that
when the reectivity is higher the interior blinds ability to reduce
lighting power is also higher. As displayed in the gure, no matter
stays at which tilt angle, the interior blind with higher reectivity
always performs better. When the occupants adjust the tilt angle,
they can still expect a considerable daylighting effect if the reec-
tivity is high. Similar results can be achieved from results of the
other three cities, of which the results are not presented due to
length limitation.
Fig. 11 presents the annual lighting energy saving from daylight-
ing with different overhang depth. As the depth increases, daylight-
ing performance of the overhang becomes worse. The decrease in
daylighting performance is signicant on the east and west orienta-
tions. As the latitude rises, the affection of depth on daylighting per-
formance on east and west orientations becomes smaller. In Hong
Kong, when the overhang depth changes from 0.6 m to 1 m, day-
1. Singapore
3. Miami
Fig. 9. Annual lighting energy saving from daylighting with different blind tilt angle.
lighting performances on the east and west orientations even drop
to less than 80%. While in Miami, when the overhang depth changes
from 0.6 m to 1 m, daylighting performances on the east and west
orientations drop to over 90%.
3.3. Comprehensive evaluation considering both thermal and
daylighting performances
Window is an important and indispensable element in modern
architecture. Window can supply the occupants with an access to
the day lighting and pleasant outside view, which is considered
to be a valuable feature in high-rise cities. Window is also, how-
ever, a major route of the large amount of unwanted solar heat
gain. The two conicting considerations bring forward a challenge
in the window design area.
In cooling dominant area, applying energy efcient window
designs on building envelope can largely reduce heat gain through
window area, which is a major component of the building air-con-
ditioning system load. Since almost all of the heat gain through
window is radiation heat gain, the thermal resistance of glazing
material cannot affect the windows thermal performance signi-
cantly. Application of double-layer glazing can reduce the window
heat gain by about 1520%. Application of low-e glazing can
achieve an even higher reduction. When low-e glazing described
in Table 3 is applied, the window heat gain reduction can be as
much as 50%. As shown in Fig. 8, the daylighting performance of
the low-e glazing stays almost the same as that of the double-layer
glazing. Considering that low-e glazing has a better thermal perfor-
mance than double-layer glazing, low-e glazing is a better choice
for energy-efcient design and retrotting than double-layer glaz-
ing in cooling-dominant climates.
According to the simulation result, the interior blind installation
can help reduce window heat gain by around 20% blind while lou-
vers tilt angle is 90, and the thermal performance of the blind
2. Hong Kong
4. Houston
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228 225

B. East orientation
A. South orientation

C. North orientation
Fig. 10. Annual lighting energy saving from daylighting with different blind louver reectivity in Hong Kong.

1. Singapore 2. Hong Kong

3. Miami 4. Houston

Fig. 11. Annual lighting energy saving from daylighting with different overhang depth.
226 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228

Table 4
Thermal performance of three different window designs on different orientations.

Orientation Low-e glazing Blind Overhang

M (kW h) d (%) c (%) M (kW h) d (%) c (%) M (kW h) d (%) c (%)
A. Singapore
South 484,586 11.6 10.1 162,845 3.9 3.4 400,516 9.6 8.3
East 615,952 14.7 12.7 218,155 5.2 4.5 549,131 13.1 11.3
North 485,540 11.8 10.0 165,252 4 3.4 405,652 9.7 8.4
West 571,504 13.6 11.6 196,918 4.7 4 491,024 11.8 10.1
Total saving 2,157,582 51.7 44.4 743,170 17.8 15.3 1,846,324 44.2 38
B. Hong Kong
South 248,462 12.3 10.1 92,694 4.6 3.8 234,806 11.7 9.7
East 290,100 14.3 12.1 103,482 5.1 4.3 256,976 12.8 10.6
North 189,964 9.4 8.0 54,556 2.7 2.3 108,708 5.4 4.5
West 311,273 15.5 13.0 110,516 5.5 4.6 281,881 14 11.6
Total saving 1,039,795 51.5 42.9 361,248 17.9 14.9 882,373 43.8 36.5
C. Miami
South 416,319 13.2 12.1 179,526 5.7 5.2 444,455 14.2 12.9
East 443,908 14.1 12.9 175,699 5.6 5.1 426,027 13.6 12.4
North 247,777 7.6 7.2 72,122 2.2 2.1 115,456 3.7 3.3
West 481,484 15.3 13.9 179,792 5.7 5.2 431,147 13.7 12.6
Total saving 1,589,487 50.5 46.3 607,140 19.3 17.7 1,417,088 45.2 41.3
D. Houston
South 349,151 13.4 11.9 146,437 5.6 5 375,747 14.4 12.8
East 360,146 13.8 12.4 130,492 5 4.5 316,064 12.1 10.8
North 207,162 8.0 6.9 56,978 2.2 1.9 97,426 3.7 3.3
West 414,414 15.8 14.1 147,206 5.6 5 366,970 14 12.5
Total saving 1,330,872 50.9 45.4 481,113 18.4 16.4 1,156,208 44.3 39.5

decreases as the reectivity decreases. As presented in Fig. 10, day-
lighting performance of the interior blind also decreases with the
louvers reectivity. The impact of occupants behavior on the
blinds performance also gets smaller as the reectivity rises. Thus
it is clear that the louvers reectivity is the key factor that affects
the blinds comprehensive performance. The higher the reectivity
is, the better the blind performs.
As shown in Fig. 7, a reduction of around 40% in window heat
gain can be expected with the application of overhang. As the
depth gets larger, the thermal performance gets better. However,
the daylighting performance drops as the depth increases. While
the overhangs depth changes from 0.6 m to 1 m, its thermal per-
formance is improved by about 20%, while its daylighting perfor-
mance drops around 810% in most cases. Depth is the key factor
that affects the comprehensive performance of overhang. There
exist an ideal depth so that the overhang could block out large
amount of solar radiation while still retain an acceptable amount
of daylight.
It is clear from the simulation that the thermal performance of
overhang is better than interior blind while louvers tilt angle is
90. Although reducing the tilt angle of blind would improve the
thermal performance of the blind, gaps still exist in most cases.
As shown in Fig. 8, the daylighting performance of overhang is also
better than that of interior blind. As the tilt angle decreases, the
blinds daylighting performance gets weaker. Thus in the respect
of comprehensive performance, overhang is a better shading
choice than interior blind in cooling-dominant climates.
As discussed above, in low-e glazing case, the window heat gain
reduction can be as much as 50%, while a reduction of around
3540% in window heat gain can be expected with the application
of overhang. Also as shown in Fig. 8, the daylighting performance
of overhang equipped window is almost the same as the daylight-
ing performance of double-layer glazing and low-e glazing. Overall
speaking, the comprehensive performance of the low-e glazing is
better than that of the overhang. In cooling-dominant climates,
low-e glazing is the best energy-efcient window design consider-
ing both thermal and daylighting performances.
While the tilt angle of louver is set at 90, the performances of
blind and double-layer glazing are at the same level. But the
exibility of blind makes it able to deal with shading and daylight-
ing under different weather condition, while double-layer glazing
may easily suffer from glare or overheating. From this perspective,
double-layer glazing may be the last choice for window design in
cooling-dominant climates.
Orientation is an important factor that affects the performance
of energy-efcient window designs. In order to better quantify the
cost-effectiveness of energy-efcient window designs, heat gain
reduction of three different designs (low-e glazing described in
Table 3, interior blind with a reectivity of 0.8 and a louver tilt
angle of 90, overhang with a depth of 1 m) on ofce building
faade facing different orientations in four cities and their propor-
tions in the total envelope surface heat gain are compared in
Table 4 below. Two variables, namely d and c are dened to make
the discussion easier:
M
d  100% 1
W
M
c  100% 2
G
W (kW h) represents the annual heat gain through window area. G
(kW h) stands for the annual heat gain through building faade. M
(kW h) is the annual heat gain reduction from different window
designs.
It is clear that the thermal and daylighting performances of all
the three window designs are better on the east and west orienta-
tions. On the north orientation, both thermal and daylighting per-
formances are the worst.
Geography location could also affect the performance of differ-
ent window designs. Although there exist difference in both ther-
mal and daylighting performance on different orientations, as the
latitude rises, the difference becomes smaller. The impact of depth
on overhang also decreases as the latitude rises.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, the thermal and daylighting performance of sev-
eral popular energy-efcient design measures on ofce building
 Y. Huang et al. / Applied Energy 134 (2014) 215228
window was simulated and discussed. The factors that may affect
the performance of different measures were investigated. A com-
prehensive evaluation is also presented to assess the overall energy
performance of different window designs.
Window is a major source of solar heat gain for commercial
buildings. At the same time window is also an important architec-
ture element which supplies the occupants with daylight and out-
door viewing. Large window area can ensure a considerable saving
of lighting energy via daylighting, at the same time large window
area also lets in large amount of unwanted solar radiation. The
combination between daylighting and solar shading requires extra
attentions.
In cooling-dominant climates, employing several popular
energy-efcient designs on window can reduce a large amount of
solar heat gain while still retain a satisfactory level of daylighting.
Among the window designs discussed in this paper, the low-e glaz-
ing is the best choice considering both thermal and daylighting
performance, while double-layer glazing performs the worst. The
comprehensive performance of overhang is better than that of
interior blind. But the adjustability of blind makes it a competitive
selection.
Orientation and geography location can make signicant affec-
tions on the thermal and daylighting performance of window
designs. In cooling-dominant climates, all the window designs per-
forms better on the east and west orientations, while the worst
performance occurs on the north orientation. In areas with low lat-
itudes, the difference among orientations is quite obvious. As the
latitude rises, the difference becomes insignicant.
It is also discovered that the louvers reectivity is the key factor
that affects the blinds comprehensive performance. The higher the
reectivity is, the better the blind performs.
Though low-e glazing can achieve an excellent thermal and
daylighting performance, there still exist possible uncomfortable
features such as overheating and glare. Searching for advanced
glazing materials with better thermal and visual properties will
still be the focus of the future.
Acknowledgement
The work described in this paper was nancially supported by
the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project No. 522613).
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