Experimental Validation of the BAC Factor Method
for Lighting Systems
M. Beccali, M. Bonomolo, M. G. Ippolito, V. Lo Brano, G. Zizzo, Member, IEEE
Università di Palermo
Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models
viale delle Scienze, Edificio 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Abstract— In the last few years, many buildings have been
equipped with Building Automation and Control (BAC) systems.
BAC systems can be used to achieve a significant reduction of the
electrical consumption and to have all the well acknowledged
benefits from the daylight (e.g. occupant comfort, health, well-
being and productivity). For this reason, Standard EN 15232
“Energy performance of buildings - Impact of Building
Automation, Controls and Building Management” puts into
evidence the importance of the presence of BAC and Technical
Building Management (TBM) systems, suggests a classification of
these systems, explains their main functionalities and presents a
simplified method to estimate their impact on the energy
consumption of the building. The aim of this paper is to verify this
simplified BAC factor method using the results of an experimental
measurements campaign. In the paper, the BAC factors are
evaluated for a residential and an office environment, using a big
set of data measured for one year every 5 minutes at the laboratory
of the DEIM (University of Palermo), where a BACs for lighting
control is installed.
Keywords— buildings controls; energy efficiency in buildings;
lighting; BAC factors.
I. INTRODUCTION
EN Standard 15232 [1] deals with the effects of Building
Automation Control (BAC) and Technical Building
Management (TBM) systems on the final energy consumption
in buildings. The standard is in-line with the EPB Directive
2010/31/EU [2], that recognizes the important role of
automation, control and monitoring systems in energy saving
actions, and encourages the use of smart control and metering
systems for energy saving purposes. Also Directive 2012/27/EU
[3] refers to automation as a way to reduce the energy
consumption also having recourse to innovative demand
response (DR) strategies, and to the application of smart meters.
In addition, the most recent research literature [4]-[6] shows
that a great potential for energy savings in buildings is in the
control and interaction of air-conditioning systems, appliances
and, in general, electric devices, also thanks to specific
algorithms able to coordinate all the energy facilities in the
building. Many studies demonstrated the advantages of BAC
systems. Indeed, this kind of systems can play a key role to
achieve a significant reduction of the electrical consumption for
lighting and all the well-acknowledged benefits from the
daylight (e.g. occupant comfort, health, well-being and
productivity) [5]-[7]. Aste et. al. [8] proposed a method for
optimizing BAC systems performance both in terms of energy
savings and of comfort and Shen et al. investigated both visual
The project has been funded by Italian Minister of University and
Research in the framework of the PON Smart Cities Smart Cities and
Communities and Social Innovation "I-Next".
978-1-5386-3917-7/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
and energy performance of lighting control strategies. The
standard EN 15232 [1] provides a list of BAC and TBM
functions that can affect the energy performance of buildings
and introduces four different BAC efficiency classes and the
simplified BAC factor method for estimating the energy savings
due to the application of BAC and TBM functions. Nevertheless,
as Pellegrino et. Al. have underlined in their work [9],
sometimes the outcomes obtained from the monitored data can
show some significant differences from the expected and
previously estimated energy saving results.
The aim of this paper is to check the soundness of this
simplified BAC factor method using the results of an
experimental measurements campaign. In the paper the BAC
factors are evaluated for a residential and an office environment,
using a big set of data measured for 8 months every 5 minutes at
the laboratory of the DEIM (University of Palermo), where a
BAC system for lighting control is installed.
II. THE LABORATORY SET-UP
As well known, the characteristics of the space and of the
environment can highly influence the behavior of the light and
the performance of the lighting system. In this section, a short
description of the characteristics of the laboratory, of the
environment and of the tested system are reported. More detailed
information can be found in [10].
A. The laboratory
The laboratory is located at the third floor of the DEIM
(Department of Energy, Information Engineering and
Mathematical Models) of the University of Palermo. The
building is located in Palermo in the climatic zone B, according
to the Decree DPR 412/93 [11] classification. It is characterized
by and area of 106 square meters in size and an height of 4.40
m, including the false ceiling, and an height of 3.40 m high,
excluding the false ceiling.
The room has four windows, equipped by double-glazing
with aluminum frames (without thermal break). They are located
on the South East side overlooking the green roof (albedo
average value= 0.25) and are 2.40 meters of width by 2.90
meters of height. Medium height plants on the green roof cover
two windows. Furthermore, the façade is partially shaded by a
solar shelter of 2.70x19 meters on which an hybrid PV/Thermal
system is installed. This solar system is connected with the air-
conditioning system (a solar thermally driven advanced DEC
system) and with the electric grid though a storage/management
system.
B. The lighting system Fig. 1 represents the layout of the laboratory while Table I
In the following sections, different scenarios for different reports the lighting controls implemented in each zone.
end-uses are described. In particular, in the laboratory some III. THE MEASUREMENT CAMPAIGN
typical occupancy schedules for residential and office buildings
have been set. The luminaires have been chosen and located in During the experimental campaign, the following measures
order to achieve the illuminance values suggested, for different have been taken:
tasks, by the Standard EN 12464-1 [12]. - illuminance values measured indoor;
For the residential case, the laboratory has been divided - diffuse illuminance value measured outdoor (on the
ideally in some typical apartment zones: roof);
- an entrance zone; - diffuse solar radiation measured outdoor (on the roof);
- a living room; - energy absorbed by the lighting system.
- a dining room; In order to obtain realistic energy consumption values,
- a kitchen; various scenarios have been tested for different occupancy
schedules, seasons and sensors configuration. The illuminance
- a bedroom; sensor placed on the ceiling, has been set to achieve on the work-
- a bathroom. plan 200-300 lux for the residential scenario and 400-500 lux for
the office scenario.
For the office case, the space has been ideally divided in:
TABLE I. LIGHTING CONTROLS IMPLEMENTED IN EACH ZONE.
- an entrance zone;
Zones Function
- three work stations;
Manual on/off control i3 e
- a director office; Residential Office
i4
- a kitchen; Kitchen Kitchen
Manual on/off control i1 e
i2
- a bathroom. Entrance Entrance Manual on/off control S4
The lighting system is composed by: Bedroom Manager room Scenario control
Living Workstation Dimmer control S1 e S2
• pendant luminaires, equipped with 54W LED Manual on/off control S1 e
lamps in all the zones Dining Workstation
S2
• mono-optic indoor downlight with 15W LED
lamps in the kitchen and in the entrance zone. Tables II and III report the occupancy schedule for the
residential and the office scenario.
C. Electric control system
The lighting system is managed by a BAC system TABLE II. OOCCUPANCY SCHEDULES FOR THE RESIDENTIAL SCENARIO.
configurable by the My Home Suite [13] software. The software
is also used for managing the devices of the automation, energy Zone Scenario time
management, and temperature control systems, is preset for Kitchen 08:00-09:30 12:00-12:30
virtual configuration and for integrating the control of some
devices that require programming (for example touch screen, Bedroom 07:00-07:30 22:00-00:00
web server, scenarios programmer, advanced video handsets). It
Entrance 17:50-18:05 18:10-18:25
is designed for being easily usable by anyone, also by not
technical personnel; indeed, its interface is very user-friendly. Living Room Variable with season
The main function of My Home Suite are:
- Lighting control (switching on and off the lamps, TABLE III. OCCUPANCY SCHEDULES FOR THE OFFICE SCENARIO.
luminous flux regulation of lamps);
Zone Scenario time
- Automation control (control of motors);
Kitchen 12:00-12:30
- Scenario module control (recalling and/or changing
lighting/thermal scenarios saved in the scenario module); Manager
07:00-07:30
Room
- Sound system control (switching on and off the sound
system, adjusting the volume, switching and managing an Entrance 09:00-09:15 18:10-18:25
amplifier source)
Office Variable with seasons
- Video door entry system (opening of a door lock,
control of internal video entry system panel, switching on and
off the lamps in staircase).
Fig. 1. Layout of the laboratory.

IV. RESULTS For each scenario considered in Section III, the energy
consumption of the lighting system has been measured:
The experimental validation of the BAC factors for lighting
systems proposed in this paper, has been done starting from the • in absence of automatic control of all the lamps;
assumption that whichever realistic scenario includes automatic
control of some lamps as long as manual control of other lamps. • in presence of automatic ON/OFF control of
Therefore, the manual control of lamps i1-i4 in Table II has been luminaries S1-S3 as function of the established
considered as an acceptable condition for the experiments. illuminance set-point;

BAC factors are usually referred to a reference scenario with • in presence of dimming control of the artificial
a slight presence of automation (class C) and assume the values lighting.
in Table IV. However, for the aim of our study, BAC factors According to EN Standard 15232, in the first case the
have been calculated assuming class D (no automation) as lighting system is considered of class D, while in the other cases
reference. In this way, the values in Table V are obtained. the lighting system can be assumed of class C and A,
respectively.
TABLE IV. BAC FACTORS FOR ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN
RESIDENTIAL AND OFFICE BUILDINGS [1]. The actual BAC factor BF is calculated as the rate:
D C B A E AUT
Residential BF = (1)
1.08 1 0.93 0.92 ED
Buildings
Office
1.10 1 0.93 0.87 where EAUT is the daily energy consumption of the lighting
Buildings
system in presence of automation and ED is the theoretical
TABLE V. CORRECTED BAC FACTORS FOR ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
consumption that the lighting system would have in the same
IN RESIDENTIAL AND OFFICE BUILDINGS WITH REFERENCE CLASS D. day in absence of automatic control.
D C B A Tables VI and VII report for each season the average of the
Residential values calculated with (1). The two tables contain also the
1 0.93 0.86 0.85
Buildings average Daylight Autonomy (DA) and continuous Daylight
Office Autonomy (cDA) for each season. The first index is the
1 0.91 0.85 0.79
Buildings percentage of the time-in-use that a certain user-defined lux
threshold is reached through the use of just daylight. cDA
is similar to DA, but cDA awards partial credit for daylight
levels below a user-defined threshold in a linear fashion [14].

TABLE VI. CALCULATED AVERAGE VALUES OF BF FOR RESIDENTIAL

BUILDINGS.

Residential BF for BF for DA cDA

Buildings Class C Class A
lighting lighting
system system
Summer 0.89 0.61 30% 48%
Winter 0.99 0.95 1% 2%
Yearly 0.94 0.78 16% 25%

TABLE VII. CALCULATED AVERAGE VALUES OF BF FOR OFFICE

BUILDINGS.
Fig. 2. Correlation between BF and cDA (ON/OFF control).
Office BF for BF for DA cDA
Buildings Class C Class A
lighting lighting
system system
Summer 0.95 0.64 52% 76%
Winter 0.93 0.72 39% 62%
Yearly 0.94 0.68 46% 69%

Indeed, a correct evaluation of BF must take into

consideration the actual contribution of natural lighting during
daytime, especially in presence of dimming control that, during
winter or in rooms characterized by insufficient natural lighting
can become ineffective. Nevertheless, as it can be noticed from
Figures 2 and 3, there is not a good correlation between BF and
cDA values in the presence both of ON/OFF and of dimming
control. This is probably due to the quota of energy consumption
due to not controllable loads (lamps i1-i4 and S4) and stand-by
consumption.
Fig. 3. Correlation between BF and cDA (dimming control).
Table IX reports a comparison of the actual calculated BAC
factors and those given by [1].

TABLE VIII. COMPARISON BETWEEN ACTUAL AND THEORETICAL BAC FACTORS.

Residential Actual Theoretical Percentage Actual Theoretical Percentage
Buildings Class C Class C difference Class A Class A difference
lighting lighting lighting lighting
system system system system
Summer 0.89 0.93 4.3% 0.61 0.85 28.2%
Winter 0.99 6.4% 0.95 11.8%
Yearly 0.94 1.1% 0.78 8.2%
Office Actual Theoretical Percentage Actual Theoretical Percentage
Buildings Class C Class C difference Class A Class A difference
lighting lighting lighting lighting
system system system system
Summer 0.95 0.91 4.4% 0.64 0.79 18.9%
Winter 0.93 2.2% 0.72 8.9%
Yearly 0.94 3.3% 0.68 14.0%

The comparison shows that, for the scenarios examined in
this study, the calculated BAC factors values for C and A classes
are quite close to the theoretical values. In the case of residential
scenarios tested during winter period, it can be noted that there
are not significant energy savings with respect to the case
without automation. In fact, during winter, the occupancy
schedules of the residential scenario considered the presence of
people after twilight and therefore the control of the lamps as
function of natural daylight was very limited and the luminaires
were, for the most part of the time period, at 100% of their rated
power.
 It is worth noticing that in the practice only comparing yearly
average values is meaningful. Indeed, single values of BF can
greatly differ from the theoretical BAC factors, being highly
dependent on the natural lighting contribution of the specific
day. In addition, being BAC factors defined for assisting in the
estimation of the buildings yearly consumption, a comparison on
the basis of seasonal values is not useful, even if it provides
important indications on the behavior of the system throughout
the year.
Another important indication deducible from Table VIII is
that, both for the residential and for the office case, the measured
BAC factor for the C Class lighting systems take values very
close to the theoretical one. Indeed, in these cases the percentage
differences are not over 10%.
A more detailed study could be carried out comparing the
results of the proposed calculation made for different system’s
hardware or systems made by different manufactures.
V. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKS
The results of the study allow one to affirm that the BAC
factor method, besides characterized by a certain degree of
approximation, can be used with sufficient precision for
evaluating the final energy consumption of C or A class lighting
systems, both in residential and in office buildings.
Nevertheless, the results presented in the paper are only a part of
a wider research aiming at comprising how the BAC factor
method can be improved and made more accurate.
Indeed, several factors are able to influence the outcome of
this study:
• the influence of daylight on dimming control;
• the usage pattern assumed for the lighting system;
• the imposed illuminance set-point;
• the effects of motion detectors;
• the stand-by energy consumption of lamps and
control devices.
In a future work a more comprehensive study will be
presented that will show how BAC factors can depend on the
above-listed factors.
REFERENCES
[1] European Technical Standard EN 15232, “Energy Performance of
Buildings – Impact of Building Automation, Control, and Building
Management”, second ed., CEN, Brussels, 2012.
[2] Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of
19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings.
[3] Directive 2012/27/EU of The European Parliament and of the Council of
25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC
and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC,
Official Journal of the European Union. L 315/1, 14.11.2012.
[4] B. Poel, G. van Cruchten, and C. A. Balaras, “Energy performance
assessment of existing dwellings”, Energy and Buildings, Vol. 39, No. 4,
pp. 393-403, 2007.
[5] L. Klein, J. Y. Kwak, G. Kavulya, F. Jazizadeh, B. Becerik-Gerber, P.
Varakantham and M. Tambe, “Coordinating occupant behavior for
building energy and comfort management using multi-agent systems”,
Automation in construction, Vol. 22, pp. 525-536, 2012.
[6] Y. Xu, S. Yuehong, “Daylight availability assessment and its potential
energy saving estimation-A literature review”, Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 52, pp. 494-503, 2015.
[7] R. Yang and L. Wang, “Multi-objective optimization for decision-making
of energy and comfort management in building automation and control”,
Sustainable Cities and Society, Vol. 2, pp. 1-7, 2012.
[8] N. Aste, M. Manfren, G. Marenzi, “Building Automation and Control
Systems and performance optimization: A framework for analysis”,
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Vol. 75, pp. 313-330, 2017.
[9] A. Pellegrino, V. R. M. Lo Verso, L. Blaso, A. Acquaviva, E. Patti and A.
Osello, “Lighting Control and Monitoring for Energy Efficiency: A Case
Study Focused on the Interoperability of Building Management Systems”,
IEEE Transactions On Industry Applications, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 2627 -
2637 May/June 2016.
[10] M. Beccali, M. Bonomolo, A. Galatioto, M.G. Ippolito, and G. Zizzo. “A
laboratory setup for the evaluation of the effects of BACS and TBM
systems on lighting”, 2015 International Conference on Renewable
Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA), pp. 1388 - 1393, 22-25
November 2015, Palermo (Italy).
[11] D.P.R. n. 412, “Regolamento recante norme per la progettazione,
l'installazione, l'esercizio e la manutenzione degli impianti termici degli
edifici ai fini del contenimento dei consumi di energia, in attuazione
dell'art. 4, comma 4, della L. 9 gennaio 1991, n. 10” (in Italian), August
1993.
[12] EN 12464-1 “Lighting of work spaces - Part I: Indoor work places”
[13] MyHome Suite web page, Available:
http://www.bticino.com/myhome_suite/index.html (Last view: February
2017).
[14] C. F. Reinhart, J. Mardaljevic, and Z. Rogers, “Dynamic Daylight
Performance Metrics for Sustainable Building Design”, Leukos, Vol. 3,
No. 1, pp. 7-31, 2006.