Most commercial spaces have enough daylight next to windows to eliminate the need for electric lighting. Daylight harvesting systems automatically dim or switch electric lights depending on daylight availability, offering significant energy savings. Most importantly, they offer significant peak demand reduction, since peak demand usually occurs during the highest levels of daylight availability. Dimming electric lights based on available daylight is expensive with significant equipment (dimming ballasts) and commissioning costs. To date, only a small fraction of side-lit dimming applications operate satisfactorily. While useful in low daylight areas, dimming is not really necessary in areas with high levels of daylight where dimming is only useful during the early morning and late afternoon. The cost of the SDH system is very low, offering the potential for cost-effective commercial products that will help reduce energy and peak demand requirements in new and existing commercial buildings. OBJECTIVE:
To develop and test a new cost-effective Simplified Daylight Harvesting (SDH) approach designed to operate as a bi-level lighting system APPLICATIONS: - Areas with plenty of daylight close to windows and skylights
DESCRIPTION/FEATURES: - Works without need for commissioning or calibration
- Designed to operate as a bi-level lighting system and applicable to existing bi-level systems
Read more about SDH in the technical brief.
STATUS:
The University of California, Davis, has signed agreements to license new daylighting harvesting technology created by CLTC. WattStopper and Axis Technologies, two of CLTC's affiliates, have signed co-exclusive license agreements to commercialize the daylight harvesting technologies developed at CLTC.
WattStopper has developed the LS-102 Daylighting Controller, a self-calibrating daylighting controller that reduces time-consuming installation and setup. This product is currently available.
View the press release for more information. REFERENCES: | 
Simplified Daylight Harvesting 
