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Southern California Edison provides no-cost engineering and HVAC system improvement recommendations to owners of buildings in excess of 100,000 sq ft as part of its California Building Energy Initiative. PGE, as part of a now four-year-old Daylighting Initiative, conducts nearly 100 architectural workshops every year to get this message to designers: Daylighting saves energy.

The most common misconception among architects is that contemporary glazing is the answer to all our problems, says PGE Glass Class instructor George Loisos, AIA, Loisos + Ubbelohde Associates, Oakland, Calif. “The truth is, although glazing can help a lot, no glazing system is a substitute for good design.”

In Davenport, Iowa, through its Commercial New Construction Program begun in 1999, MidAmerican Energy, the state’s largest utility, offers consultation computer analysis and economic incentives of up to 14 cents per kWh (to developers of buildings over 50,000 sq ft) for qualifying building designs. The program, to date, has resulted in average energy savings in excess of 30 percent in some 40 projects involving both new and rehabilitated buildings, MidAmerican says.

	North Shore Senior Center, Northfield,IL: Skylights were added to North Shore Senior Center during recent renovation. The skylight system was installed directly over existing roof structure.

The Weidt Group, Minnetonka, Minn., MidAmerican’s partner in the commercial conservation program, works with design teams to calculate relative energy impacts and costs associated with a range of design options. The program runs parallel with the design process, and promises not to delay the construction schedule, says Weidt Group principal David Ejadi.

The Weidt Group has conducted daylighting analysis of over 250 buildings. “We can now demonstrate 30-40 percent energy savings with a one-to-two-year payback and buildings that exceed code requirements,” Ejadi says.

“When you take the time to do a comparative analysis of fenestration, building location, shading, glazing types and show the dollar implication and performance characteristics, and show clients the results, clients will make different decisions with regard to daylighting,” says Ejadi.

There is no single “silver bullet” that will achieve a good daylighting solution, he insists. “This is a business that depends on collaboration.”

Successful daylighting begins with building orientation and ends with proper daylighting controls, the correct combination of lighting, ballasts and sensors. But interior design is critical, Ejadi insists. “If interior design is poor, you end up subverting the daylighting system—space planning is important.”

“There are somewhere between six and 10 key elements of a successful daylighting system. If you fail to do any of them perfectly, you fail to achieve the systemic effect of daylighting. If you do four things 90 percent right, mathematically you end up with a solution that is about 60 percent as good as it could have been. The reason why many daylighting systems fail is because many architects and engineers don’t understand the interactive effects of the many elements that go into a daylighting system.”

Selling daylighting isn’t difficult, Ejadi insists. “You build consent through a series of small ‘yeses’. You ask the client: Do you want a good building? Do you want your employees to be happy and productive? Do you want to save money?”