Engineering - Civil (54) Utilization of daylight is one of the most cost-effective energy-efficient strategies to design and engineer low-energy architecture. Integration between daylight and electric light in commercial buildings results in significant reductions in annual energy use and operating cost. As in other engineered systems, quantification of the performance of daylighting systems should govern their design. In the US, however, the majority of students of architecture and architectural engineering, architects, and architectural engineers currently use inaccurate rules of thumb or simplified methods to design and predict performance of daylighting systems. Our faculty team within the Program of Architectural Engineering at OSU has adopted and implemented the approach of testing scale models to accurately predict the performance of daylighting systems. Testing scale models has proven to be the most accurate method in that matter. Our curriculum and laboratory development efforts have been adapted from curriculum previously developed by faculty members at Cardiff University in Wales. Our primary goal has been to use a cutting-edge laboratory, the Artificial Sky Dome, to integrate the engineering of daylighting systems into the curriculum in order to improve the science and design skills of undergraduate students. Our secondary goal has been to disseminate the same knowledge or skills to graduate students, faculty, pre-college students and teachers, and professionals. The laboratory has been an effective venue to integrate teaching and research. Expertise developed in the laboratory is being disseminated through seminars, published papers, and OSU outreach programs. The expected outcome from the project has been to enable students, and apparently graduates, of OSU to effectively incorporate daylight into the design of buildings, which should result in conservation of energy used to operate buildings, and the mitigation of related environmental impacts.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0310795
Program Officer
Kathleen A. Alfano
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2003-08-01
Budget End
2007-07-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$85,173
Indirect Cost
Name
Oklahoma State University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Stillwater
State
OK
Country
United States
Zip Code
74078