This source book gives a comprehensive overview of innovative daylighting systems, the performance parameters by which they are judged, and an evaluation of their energy savings potential and user acceptance. The book has been written to overcome a lack of evidence of the advantages of daylighting in buildings and a lack of knowledge regarding the performance of innovative daylighting systems in buildings in various climatic zones around the world. The information presented here is intended to be used in the earliest stages of the building design process.

The planned use of daylight in buildings is nowadays a necessary strategy to minimise the energy for lighting, heating and cooling as well as to improve the comfort and visual performance in interiors. The use of daylight to replace or supplement electric lighting in buildings can result in significant energy savings. New innovative daylighting systems developed over the last fifteen years are used to control the daylighting in interiors, the solar radiation entering the interior as well as thermal losses and gains. For a good daylighting design in different climatic zones, the performance parameters of the used daylighting system have to be known.