Welcome to the Daylighting in Schools Online Training Program: a free, web-based resource created to help building professionals – and others interested in the topic – understand and be able to deliver high quality daylighting in schools.  This unique resource – the most comprehensive training program of its kind in the U.S. – was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under its Rebuild America program, in cooperation with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ Clean Energy Program.

• The Importance of Daylighting
• Program Content and Format
• Expert Lecturers

 

The Importance of Daylighting

Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into a space through windows, skylights and/or roof monitors.  Good and plentiful daylight is an important attribute of any high performance building, and it is especially critical in schools.  Daylight enhances the color and appearance of objects and is therefore the highest quality light source available for visual tasks.   Views from windows also provide a connection with the natural world and promote healthy vision by allowing frequent changes in focal distance. Even more important, studies clearly indicate that good daylighting can enhance student performance in reading and math. 

Daylight can also save a school money.  Properly designed systems can substantially reduce the need for electric lighting, which can account for 35 to 50 percent of a school’s electrical energy consumption.  An added benefit: waste heat from the lighting system also decreases, reducing demand on the school’s cooling equipment and saving additional energy in the process. 

New schools should provide as much daylight as possible (especially in classrooms) while avoiding excessive heat loss, heat gain, and glare.  This online program provides guidance on how to achieve this ambitious, but readily achievable, objective.

 

Program Content and Format

The training program consists of 15 online lectures presented by leading national experts on daylighting in schools and organized as follows.

Course Overview

Daylighting Principles, Strategies and Technologies Applying Daylighting Principles, Strategies and Technologies in Schools

Lectures can vary from 10 minutes to more than an hour long. Longer lectures are broken down into sub-lectures to allow for easier viewing over the web. While there is a logic to the progression of the lectures, they can be viewed in any order and revisited as often as a viewer likes.

Just click on a lecture title to open a page that describes the lecture in more detail, identifies the individual sub-lectures that are included, and introduces you to the expert providing the lecture.

 

Expert Lecturers

The training program is presented by four leading national experts on daylighting in schools.

• Jim Benya, FIES,PE, heasds Benya Lighting Design in Seattle, WA.  Jim is a lighting designer and expert in daylighting theory and application.  For a short bio, click here.
• Dorene Maniccia, LC, is Market Segment Development Manager for the Wattstopper Company in Warwick, RI.  Dorene is lighting designer and an expert in control systems, particularly systems that control electric lighting in response to daylight.  For a short bio, click here.
• Naomi Miller, FIES, FAILD, LC is a Prinicpal of Miller Lighting Design in Troy, NY.  Naomi is a lighting designer and researcher with expertise in lighting/ daylighting optimization.  For a short bio, click here.
• Mike Nicklas, FAIA, is a Principal with Innovative Design in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of the preeminent architecture firms creating well-daylit, high performing schools across the country.  For a bio on Mike, click here.