SkyCalc® Skylighting Software
SkyCalc® is a free, simple computer tool that helps building designers determine the optimum skylighting strategy that will achieve maximum lighting and HVAC energy savings for a building. This program is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application that runs on a personal computer.
SkyCalc US runs on Microsoft Excel 7.0 for Windows 95 or a compatible version of Microsoft Excel. Installation requires a minimum of 2 MB of free disk space, but 10 MB of free space is recommended for running the program. SkyCalc US comes as a self-extracting zipped file. After you have downloaded these files to your hard drive you can double click on the file icon to un-zip the files. You can choose to include all 19 available weather files, or just a subset, per the chart below. Copy SkyCalcUS.xlt into your XLSTART folder. The XLSTART folder is usually in the Excel Templates folder in the MS Office folder. Make a new folder for the weather files in any convenient location. Start the program by opening Excel and asking for a new file, and choosing the SkyCalc option. Consult the Users Manual included in the Skylighting Guidelines for more detailed information on installation and operation.
The SkyCalc User’s Guide is available on the Energy Design Resources Web site. This document is part of the Skylighting Guidelines and is in Adobe Acrobat format. An earlier version of SkyCalc for California and the Skylighting Guidelines are also included on a CD-ROM available from the Energy Design Resources website. Order the CD-ROM.
- To download these files, save them to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing them.
- You also can print these files when viewing them.
Descriptions |
Zipped Size |
Unzipped Size |
SkyCalUS Spreadsheet (Needed for all options) |
0.4 MB |
1.0 MB |
Weather Files |
||
SkyweaCA — 16 California Climates |
2.2 MB |
8.5 MB |
SkyweaNE — New England climates: |
1.0 MB |
3.7 MB |
SkyweaNW — Northwest Climates: |
0.4 MB |
1.6 MB |
SkyweaOtherUS — Other US climates: |
1.1 MB |
4.3 MB |
