Hello,
I'm trying to answer the V4 BD+C (New Construction and Major Renovation) daylight credit through option 1 (SDA+ASE). There is an option in Ecotect 2011 called Daylight Autonomy that allows the analyse for the entire year starting at 8 until 18h and with a required lighting level in default mode of 300 lux. Is this valid to fulfil the credit requisites? Seems made for it.
This is the Ecotect report that I would send with the analysis grid (more than 75% SDA)
Report: Grid Analysis
Description: Percentage of nodes by contour band.
Daylight Automomy (300 Lux)
Contour Band Within Above
(from-to) Pts (%) Pts (%)
75-80 19 0.49 3833 98.51
80-85 22 0.57 3814 98.02
85-90 52 1.34 3792 97.46
90-95 147 3.78 3740 96.12
95-100 3543 91.06 3593 92.34
About the ASE, a peak radiation calculation for the entire year from 8 to 18h with a scale from 0 to 1000 Wh (both the SDA and ASE with a 600mm square grid at a 76 mm height) generating an analysis over the grid and a report like the following is acceptable to fulfil the credit?
Report: Grid Analysis Piso 0
Description: Percentage of nodes by contour band.
Peak Radiation
Contour Band Within Above
(from-to) Pts (%) Pts (%)
0-50 0 0.00 3745 100.00
50-100 1228 32.79 3745 100.00
100-150 348 9.29 2517 67.21
150-200 388 10.36 2169 57.92
200-250 112 2.99 1781 47.56
250-300 98 2.62 1669 44.57
300-350 243 6.49 1571 41.95
350-400 83 2.22 1328 35.46
400-450 168 4.49 1245 33.24
450-500 290 7.74 1077 28.76
500-550 46 1.23 787 21.01
550-600 99 2.64 741 19.79
600-650 170 4.54 642 17.14
650-700 76 2.03 472 12.60
700-750 112 2.99 396 10.57
750-800 41 1.09 284 7.58
800-850 187 4.99 243 6.49
850-900 19 0.51 56 1.50
900-950 18 0.48 37 0.99
950-1000 19 0.51 19 0.51
1000-1050 0 0.00 0 0.00
1050-1100 0 0.00 0 0.00
1100-1150 0 0.00 0 0.00
1150-1200 0 0.00 0 0.00
TODD REED
Energy Program SpecialistPA DMVA
LEEDuser Expert
890 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 8:13 am
The simple answer is no, read IES LM 83-12 for sDA and ASE and that is how you are conduct the simulations for the v4.
Ecotect does DA, not sDA, and they are different. The biggest difference is the use of blinds within the simulations.
You could use the stand alone current version of Daysim to document the credit.
You could document this with Option 2.
I'm currently using the SPOT pro for any projects that we are working on that are looking at v4 as an option. It does sDA and ASE quite nicely. The have improved it over the older versions which allows for more complicated spaces but it still has it's limits.
Eddy Santosa
Director of SustainabilityDBR Engineering Consultants
376 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 10:39 am
In addition to Todd' comment, Diva for Rhino can handle complex geometry for sDA and ASE.
Kjell Anderson
Director of Sustainable DesignLMN Architects
5 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 10:48 am
As a follow-up to Todd's comment, you can run Daysim from Ecotect.
TODD REED
Energy Program SpecialistPA DMVA
LEEDuser Expert
890 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 11:22 am
Kjell, yes, Ecotect will run Daysim, however it will only run version 3.1 which only does DA and not the newer version of Daysim which does sDA, unless there is some method of linking the new version into Ecotect that I don't know about.
Wish Daysim 4.0 was not source coded only. Is there a user manual for Daysim 4.0?
Kjell Anderson
Director of Sustainable DesignLMN Architects
5 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 11:28 am
Good to know, Todd. I haven't used Ecotect-->Daysim in a few years. I don't know about a user manual. We use Diva mostly these days. Some comparisons of other daylight simulation software was done on our blog recently:
https://lmnarchitects.com/tech-studio/
TODD REED
Energy Program SpecialistPA DMVA
LEEDuser Expert
890 thumbs up
February 19, 2016 - 11:53 am
Thanks for the link Kjell, some good reading in there.
I would like to have Diva, I just have to justify the cost to get the boss to buy Rhino.
Greenlab
Green Lab6 thumbs up
April 29, 2016 - 10:08 am
Thank you all for your comments. For what I can understand these are the softwares that, at the moment, fulfill LEED SDA and ASE:
Lightstanza – Does daylight (LEED V4) but not energy simulation
SPOT - Lighting analysis and Energy Modelling (LEED V4)
Sefaira - Lighting analysis and Energy Modelling (LEED V4)
Ecotect+Radiance+Daysim – Heard it does lighting analysis for LEED V4 with Daysim Ps Tool but seems very poorly connected in between software with GUI problems and the daylight analysis for LEED V4 is not very accessible with source codes on the mix.. Does energy simulation too.
IESVE - Lighting analysis and Energy Modelling (LEED V4)
DIVA – (Don’t know it. Connected to Rhino)
We are wondering what software to purchase to develop LEED and BREEAM evaluations. We need interoperability with Autocad, Sketchup and Revit and also need to fulfill Breeam demands. What are your thoughts on the software that can answer our needs? Thanks in advance.
Dane Sanders
PrincipalClanton Associates
68 thumbs up
September 29, 2016 - 9:46 am
LightStanza and SPOT are the two most easily accessible programs that run sDA & ASE according to IES LM-83. Diva for Rhino and Daysim are also highly regarded programs that also follow the IES LM-83 calculation method.
Sefaira does not follow the IES LM-83 calculation method. You cannot properly model wall thickness, window transmittances or window blinds, which are all necessary for a true sDA calculation.