Economic analysis of lighting systems for open plan office space

Energy conservation is important because of the increasing demands for energy consumption in the form of electricity, petroleum, coal and natural gas. One approach to energy conservation is to build energy consumption systems which are more efficient.; Computer software that can analyze a proposed lighting system design from a lighting quality point of view and an economic point of view does not exist. The objective of this study was to develop and validate the computer software that would provide information about the quality and quantity of light in an open plan office space and analyze the system using a simple payback analysis and a life cycle cost analysis. The computer software was developed and compared with hand calculations for two existing open plan office spaces. The software is valid and can be used to evaluate alternative designs.