Praveen Sirimanne

 What is eQUEST? eQUEST is a comprehensive building energy simulation tool built on DOE-2 to assist design teams with their energy simulation requirements (“EQUEST” 2009). The DOE-2 software platform is maintained by James J. Hirsch & Association (JJH), in conjunction with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), primarily with support from the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) (“DOE2.Com Home Page” 2016). It is a free application that is frequently used by undergraduate and graduate research students as well as design teams to simulate building energy requirements based on a floor plan or by creating a building envelope within the program. After the floor plan has been imported, the building may be created by inputting the necessary wall thickness and other parameters. eQUEST supports electricity and gas as energy sources, and any local or international energy code, such as ASHRAE standards, can be selected as appropriate. Notably, the weather file for the geoloc...

Skylights Historical architectural structures comprise of many types of skylights that were utilized to serve different objectives. However, at present, commercially - available skylights are largely classed as residential and commercial skylights. Domestic skylights designed to respond to domestic daylighting and heating requirements are frequently small in size and easy to install and maintain. Industrial skylights are frequently larger in size and require specialist expertise in installing. They are very pricey since extremely durable and waterproof materials are employed to lower the amount of maintenance. Both industrial and domestic skylights are further categorized as below according to their nature and use case. Common skylight types 1. Fixed Skylights They are often fixed to the roof and only allow sunlight to pass through. Ventilation is normally provided by these skylights. However, there are designs where ventilation is provided through small vents around the skylight s...

Collecting data for the project Figure 1 Arpico Super Center, Wattala. As stated earlier, the influence of skylights is highly dependent on the geographical location. Since the majority of the found information and conclusions are based on European and American countries, it was required to first examine an actual case from a local building prior to commencing more research. I could arrange a site visit by contacting a representative of the specific supermarket chain. After revealing the purpose of the study, the manager agreed to share some non-confidential information that was readily available.  * All information published here in my personal blog are freely available to anyone visiting the supermarket premises, and do not include any confidential information.       According to the management, the building is a 50,000 square-feet steel structure that was originally constructed as a storage facility for another organization and then acquired by Arpico in 2010...

My approach to the project This is my final year research project, which I worked on for more than 6 months. When I first started the project, I had no prior knowledge of thermal comfort, energy efficiency, or daylighting. During the initial stages of the research, I referred to several books and documentation to get a background knowledge of the topic, which was totally new to me. Most of the books and keywords were suggested to me by my supervisor, Prof. Rahula Attalage. I spent around two weeks reading the following books and reports to get familiar with basic theories and statutory requirements before starting work on the project. The Lighting Handbook 10th by Illuminating Engineers Society ASHRAE Handbook 2021 by ASHRAE Energy Efficient Building Code of Sri Lanka 2020 by SLSEA Figure 1 References I could learn numerous things about light, colors, visual light transmittance (VLT), etc. from the IES Lighting Handbook. From where light is produced to how the brain decodes light signa...