Recent studies indicate that daylight illumination can improve health, learning, comfort, and productivity. Further, a number of recent developments favor renewed opportunities for sound active daylighting designs. These include inexpensive, computer-controlled mechanisms and high-reflectivity optical materials. This paper discusses three active daylighting systems under development by the authors optimized to take advantage of each of these recent trends while retaining design simplicity. Each system can track the sun from anywhere on earth based on data programmed into a dedicated microcontroller. A fourth system is passive, but manipulates insulated shutters to achieve better thermal performance at night. Unlike most passive daylighting strategies, active systems such as those discussed hold promise for achieving truly controlled lighting environments that take full advantage of both direct beam and diffuse natural light while completely controlling for glare. On a lumens-delivered-where-desired to cost basis, new active daylighting systems appear attractive-aesthetically, functionally, and economically in residential, commercial, institutional, and even industrial environments.
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