Evaluating Daylighting Performance Metrics in LEED v4 for Commercial Office Buildings: What Criteria is Missing to Enhance the Occupant Visual Performance and Comfort?

Abstract

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one of the most widely adopted building benchmarks globally, and it encompasses multiple rating criteria for performance (Owens et al., 2010). However, such criteria typically focus on reducing energy consumption, and may disregard providing a high-level of occupant satisfaction (Wilder et al., 2019). LEED focuses on a desk height evaluation of Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) and Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE) to predict the daylight availability and probability of glare respectively (IES LM-83-12, 2012), which may disregard an occupant’s visual comfort at eye level. This paper proposes a more comprehensive approach to daylighting performance evaluation in commercial office space that incorporates Annual Glare - vertical-eye level glare evaluation, in addition to sDA and ASE. A comparison between ASE and Annual Glare is established to understand the criteria missing in LEED that evaluates discomfort glare and improves the visual performance and comfort of the occupants significantly.