Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(4) March 2015, Pages: 39-42

AENSI Journals

Advances in Environmental Biology

ISSN-1995-0756

EISSN-1998-1066

Journal home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/AEB/

A Method to Determine a Single Point Percentage Daylight Factor (%DF) Value from
Field Work Data
1

Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil, 1Wan Mariah Wan Harun and 1Adel Abdullah

School of Housing Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received 12 October 2014
Received in revised form 26 December
2014
Accepted 1 January 2015
Available online 17 February 2015
Key words:
Daylight factor %DF, Window to wall
ratio (WWR) window to floor ratio
(WFR)

ABSTRACT
The daylight factor is an established way to measure daylight level in an indoor space,
whereby natural illumination level indoors (Ei) is compared to the simultaneous
illumination outdoors (Eo). The relative values Ei/Eo is considered constant under
varying sky conditions. The %DF however does not consider direct sunlight intensity as
the occasional occurrence of direct sunlight entry will not make the ratio constant as
%DF assumes a uniform and overcast sky. In Malaysia, skies are in the cloudy to near
overcast. Direct sunlight do enter the interiors occasionally especially in the mornings
and late afternoons depending on the orientation of the window openings. This paper
suggests a way to measure %DF using field work data taking samples of 2 room with
the worst case scenario of facing directly East and West for comparison. Two varied
window to wall (WWR) and window to floor (WFR) ratios were tested for this
experiment. The %DF values calculated from this research were in the range of 0.8 to
2.3% and natural illumination levels were found to be more than adequate for normal
bedroom activities.

2015 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.

To Cite This Article: Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil, Wan Mariah Wan Harun1 and Adel Abdullah., A Method to Determine a Single Point
Percentage Daylight Factor (%DF) Value from Field Work Data. Adv. Environ. Biol., 9(4), 39-42, 2015

INTRODUCTION
The most popular and most used formula to measure and analyze day lighting performance in buildings is
the percentage daylight factor [1],[2]&[3]. The daylight factor quantifies daylight levels and distribution pattern
in the interiors of a building. The formula assumes overcast skies condition and it does not consider the
excessive illumination caused by direct sunlight penetration.
The formula for %DF is derived as follows:
%DF = Ei/Eo X 100% whereby
Ei is the illuminance due to daylight at a point on the indoors working plane
Eo is the simultaneous outdoor illuminance on a horizontal plane from an unobstructed hemisphere of an
obstructed sky [4]. By using relative values which compare indoor to outdoor illuminance, this factor is constant
under widely varying outdoor sky and day lighting conditions [5].
The real sky conditions vary throughout the world depending on location, climate and sunpath but generally
skies can be divided into 3 categories [6]and they are:
Clear skies
Cloudy and partly cloudy skies
Overcast skies
Realistically, there is no uniform sky that is uniformly illuminated so that values of the percentage daylight
factor in building spaces can be directly measured. The real skies are a dynamic phenomena with the movement
of the sun via its sunpath and also the availability of clouds along with the conditions of dust, water vapour and
other gaseous molecules in the air that affects the level and quality of illumination.
The Malaysian skies has been catergorized as being very cloudy to near overcast. From meteorological
stations like Alor Setar Kedah and Bayan Lepas Penang, cloud cover data was given at 6.4 octa and 6.9 octa
respectively [7]. The value 0 octa indicate a totally clear sky and 8octa a completely overcast sky thus the
very cloudy description suits the sky condition well indeed.
Corresponding Author: Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil, School of Housing Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
11800, Penang, Malaysia.
E-mail: sfsf@usm.my

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Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil et al, 2015

Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(4) March 2015, Pages: 39-42

Sunshine hours, on the other hand, is an Indication of the amount of time during daylight hours that direct
light from the sun is received. It is measured with a sunshine recorder and data from meteorological stations has
Alor Setar Kedah at 6.9 sunshine hours daily average, and Bayan Lepas Penang 7.0 hours [3]. From the 12
hours daylight duration experienced in Malaysia, about half is sunshine hours.
Due to the very cloudy skies and long duration of sunshine hours experienced, direct sunlight entry in
buildings are common especially when the buildings have a lot of windows and glazing areas. This is made even
more critical when the orientation of the glazing is toward the East and West directions when direct sunlight
penetration in buildings can occur extensively in the hours after sunrise and the late hours before sunset.
The problem is how then can %DF be measured in East and West facing spaces in Malaysia considering the
dynamic real sky conditions and the extensive direct sunlight entry?
Methodology:
A case study building was selected from one of the residential blocks of the Universiti Sains Malaysia
campus called Fajar Harapan, which is located in Penang Malaysia. The rooms selected faces the East and West
direction directly (Figure 1). The rooms measure 2.9m by 4.43m with floor area of 12.85meters square. The
window area is 4.43 meter square which makes up 50% of window wall ratio (WWR) and 35% of window floor
ratio (WFR).
To get more %DF readings, the windows were also half covered using polystyrene boards (Figure 2)
making 25% WWR and 17% of window floor ratio (WFR).

Fig. 1: Fajar Harapan : Plan and section of investigated rooms and probes locations
Indoor illumination were taken at mid points of east and west rooms (Le and Lw) using luxmeter probes
located 1m above floor level. Readings were logged every 10 minutes using a data logger simultaneously with
an outdoor weather proof light probe (Lo). Similar techniques were carried out with the window areas covered
by half (Figure 3) All measurements were carried out from in March. March days were chosen as the sun path
for the locality of Penang is more directly perpendicular to the rooms orientation.

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Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil et al, 2015

Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(4) March 2015, Pages: 39-42

Fig. 2: East and West room position and windows shape.

Fig. 3: Diagram to show the varied WWR and WFR tested

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Indoor illumination at the East room usually peaked at around 9am while in the West room at around 5pm
and this is an indication of some direct sunlight penetration according to the suns location and altitude at the
particular times. In the field work daylight factor calculations ie Le/Lo X 100 and Lw/Lo X 100 the readings
which were seen to have the influence of direct sunlight were disregarded . This is because the daylight factor
calculations do not consider the component from direct sunlight and assumes completely uniform and overcast
skies. Readings, which were too early in the morning and too late in the evening, were also disregarded due to
the skies not being uniformly illuminated. Only readings from 10.30am to 3.30 pm (Figure 4) are considered as
those are the approximate times that direct sunlight penetration do not occur in both rooms. This duration is
derived through observation and pattern of data from field work.

Fig. 4: Diagram showing the times data were accepted for %DF calculation

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Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil et al, 2015

Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(4) March 2015, Pages: 39-42

Summary:
Table 1 below summarizes the data collected and described above. It could be seen that the west room
experiences slightly lower average %DF values compared to east room. From the average %DF values, how
bright they translate into illuminance level in the rooms under the real Malaysian skies could be seen in the
average, max and min Li data collected. Data on Lo, on the other hand describe the high illumination of the
Malaysian skies. Here in Malaysia, 1%DF and even 0.5% DF may be sufficient for activities in a residential
room like resting, reading or just taking a nap.
Table 1: Natural Illumination Level and daylighting factor
East Room 6 Days (10:30am - 3:30pm)
Li (lux)
WWR
min
max
ave

Lo (klux)
min

max

Ave

DF (%)
min

max

50% (10 - 15 Mar)

586.67

2104.33

952.37

28.587

52.359

42.108

1.25

5.26

25% (16 - 21 Mar)

276.33

965.33

515.39

13.699

41.714

29.112

0.63

2.41

0.62

2.85

Difference
West room 6 Days (10:30am - 3:30pm)
Li (lux)
WWR
min
max
50% (10 - 15 Mar)
508.17
742.17
25% (16 - 21 Mar)
106.17
353.83
Difference

ave
612.72
224.85

Lo (klux)
min
28.587
13.699

max
52.359
41.714

Ave
42.108
29.112

DF (%)
min
1.27
0.28
0.99

max
4.24
1.62
2.62

ave
2.2
8
1.2
3
1.0
5

ave
2.26
0.82
1.44

REFERENCES
[1] Fadzil, S.F.S., A. Abdullah and W.M.W. Harun, 2009. The Impact of Varied Orientation and Wall
Window Ratio ( WWR ) To Daylight Distribution in Residental Rooms, International Symposium on
Construction in Developing Economies.
[2] Chung, T.M., 2003. Daylighting in Hong Kong: potential and problems, Light. Res. Technol., 35(1): 3941.
[3] Abdullah, A., S. Fairuz S. Fadzil, 2009. Daylight Illumination levels in varied room configurations Third
International Conf on Built Environment in Developing Countries, 1: 114.
[4] Hopkinson, R.G., P. Petherbridge and J. Longmore, 1966. Daylighting. First edit. London: William
Heinemann Ltd., p: 606.
[5] Ahmad, M.H.A., D.R. Ossen and K.A.M. Khaidzir, 2008. Methodology in architectural research, First Edit.
Johor Darul Tazim: UTM, pp: 272.
[6] Ibrahim, N., 2007. Daylight availability in an office interior due to various fenestration options, vol. 1,
no. September, pp: 436-440.
[7] Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysian Meteorological Department, 2014.
[http://www.met.gov.my/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1.