Featured Event – Passive Conference Plenary:

• The Mythic Modern: Mythology, Ecology and Technology….the Spirit of Place, delivered by Travis Price, FAIA, author of “The Archeology of Tomorrow: Architecture and the Sprit of Place”

Emerging Architecture & Passive Building Technology

Daylighting, Modeling & Building Automation

Choose the Low-Hanging Fruit
PV may be the sexy strategy, but solar-responsive design is cheaper and, by reducing a building’s energy consumption, more sustainable.
November/December 2011

For Aggressive Efficiency, Choose Passive Solar
Every south-facing window is a basic passive solar space-heating system. The challenge is minimizing heat loss while maximizing solar energy collected throughout the day.
January/February 2012

Shading for Energy Savings
By reducing the need for air conditioning, this design technique goes a long way in saving money and energy.
March/April 2012

Playing the Angles for Solar-Responsive Design
Solar geometry provides the tools for effective passive solar heating, shading and daylighting.
May 2012

Daylighting Illuminated
A good design will provide ample quality daylight, saving energy and money.
June 2012

White is the Greenest Color
Selecting light-colored roofs and walls is one of the easiest ways to save energy and money. So why don’t we see more white roofs?
July/August 2012

Think You Know Solar-Responsive Design?
Take the quiz to see how much you’ve learned. Access the September 2012 issue by logging in to your member/subscriber account here, or look for your print copy in the mail. Not a subscriber? Sign up today!

Norbert M. Lechner is an architect, professor emeritus in the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction at Auburn University, LEED-accredited professional and ASES Fellow. He is an expert in energy-responsive architectural design with an emphasis on solar-responsive design. Lechner’s book, Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects, is used by more than a third of all architecture schools in the United States and in architecture schools worldwide. The book is also very popular with professionals. He is a sought-after speaker, giving keynote lectures and workshops at universities and conferences around the world.

• the 38^th National Passive Solar Energy Conference
• the 8^th ASES Policy and Marketing Conference, and
• the inaugural Young Professionals in Renewable Energy Conference.

The American Solar Energy Society invites participation from professionals with special knowledge in the solar, renewable or sustainability fields. Program selections are based solely on the merit of the abstract or proposal. Acceptance of abstracts or proposals for presentation is based on a review of submitted materials by the designated Solar 2013 review committee. Proposals may include technical papers (to be presented at the conference) as well as forum sessions.

 Technical paper presentations at the conference include:

• Oral presentations – Typically 10-20 minutes per paper presentation (length to be determined and included in acceptance information).
• Poster presentations – Presenters will create a poster to display and will have the opportunity to do a brief overview, followed by discussion.
• “Ignite” presentations – Each presenter has 5 minutes, 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide.

Forum sessions may include:

• Panel discussions organized on a specific topic.
• Demonstrations of technology or techniques.
• In-depth discussion or debates.
• “Shoot-outs” or comparisons of competing (or complementary) technologies.

These are the topical areas for Solar 2013:

Annual National Solar Conference

• Photovoltaics
• Concentrated Solar Power
• Solar Thermal
• Distributed Wind
• Resource Applications and Integration
• Sustainable Transportation
• Water and Energy Technologies
• Cross-Track, Multi-Technology, or Other

Passive Solar Conference

• Emerging Architecture & Passive Building Technologies
• Daylighting, Modeling and Building Automation

Solar and Renewable Policy & Finance Conference

• Finance & Industry Development
• Policy & Sustainability

 Young Professionals in Renewable Energy

The inaugural Young Professionals in Renewable Energy Conference will include sessions from other tracks at Solar 2013. If you would like your proposal to be considered for inclusion, please enter the appropriate information during the abstract submission process. Additional information will be available at solar2013.org.

Continuing Education Credits

Depending on topic, ASES may be able to offer professional continuing education credits for various technical sessions and forums.  Having a session approved for credit can potentially increase attendance and expose your presentation to interested conference attendees.  Presentations that qualify for CEUs will be grouped with other qualifying presentations to enable the entire session to offer credit. If your proposal meets the criteria and is accepted, additional information may be requested from you.

Important Information and Deadlines

• The deadline for submission is November 6, 2012.
• The review process is “blind” – author/submitter names are withheld during the review process.
• Please do not submit multiple formats (e.g., paper and forum) on the same research.
• You will have the opportunity to select your presentation-style preference
• Registration: the presenting author for accepted papers, as well as organizers of accepted forum proposals, must register by February 15, 2013 in order to secure the presentation in the schedule. Other registration information is included in the Terms and Conditions.

It’s a little ironic that there is a special term for non-artificial lighting (“Daylighting”), given that we have only had an electric alternative for the briefest flicker of our history.  The rewards of daylighting are tremendous, particularly in commercial buildings, and they come in terms of dollars, productivity and contentment.  Lighting can amount to 70% of electricity used in commercial buildings – making lighting efficiency the best way to reduce electricity use.  It’s no wonder that so much scholarly effort is put to designing daylighting strategies.  At WREF 2012, a Daylighting Technical Session illuminated great daylighting tips, and some of the contradictions between simulation and observation, design and practice.

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Scanning Sky Simulator [Photo Credit: North Carolina State University

Presenters had some great rules of thumb.  Windows always have a positive effect on user experience, and should be incorporated for aesthetic reasons, but toplighting was the clear winner for pure function.  The team from the Queensland University of Technology compared light measurements with results of a user perception survey.  They found that toplighting has better consistency and angle on work space than sidelighting, and is most effectively positioned behind a workstation.  Photometric control systems enhance the user experience, and diffuse or redirected light is most pleasing.  The team from North Carolina State University found that the benefits of toplighting are maximized by integrating the skylight into the roof structure and splaying the sides of the wells.  Users need consistency in lighting, across the space and during the course of the day, as eyes tire of constantly adjusting.

The real trick to designing great daylighting is a problem as old as modeling (computer or physical):  the dicrepancy between simulation and performance.  The presenters each found a way around these obstacles.  Another team from North Carolina State University found that computer modeling is inadequate to predict the behavior of the sun and clouds, and of surfaces in the building.  So they stuck with physical models, replicated a 60-degree sector of sky in the lab and correlated its predictions with those of a scanner on the roof.  The Australian team found that even standard measurements in the field often fail to reflect user perception.  Of these measures, CIE Glare Index (CGI) agrees best with reported discomfort in open plan skylit offices and can be used to aid design.

Even when the daylighting solution is mocked up in full scale to the satisfaction of designers, the users may not take advantage of this free lighting.  The University of Oregon team voiced the designers’ frustration: “The daylight is great, but the lights are on!”  As with other best-laid architectural plans, occupant behavior, not design, drives energy use.  The Australian team found that lights were often left on during the day just to satisfy the light consistency needs of the most demanding user of the space.  Moveable dampers for daylight control were rarely used, and were left open or shut.  Occupants need comfort and consistency in lighting, but occupants vary and few take advantage of controls beyond the lightswitch, so the default state of the system settles at “lights on.”

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Office Toplighting [Photo Credit: North Carolina State University