Sunlight exposure conditions for buildings in European localities

• Evaluation of building sunlight exposure potentials in capitals of European countries. • Comparative study of sunlight exposure conditions for time period between 1st February and 21st March as recommended in EN 17037. • Finding differences in minimum solar altitude for building insolation assessments in European regions. • Comprehensive analysis of building insolation potential in different climatic regions. • Determination of the minimum solar altitude for 33 capitals and for days specified by the standard to ensure the required insolation minimum. Sunlight exposure represents one of key parameters of indoor climate comfort, especially for residential buildings, schools and care homes. It depends on the sunlight time in specific design situations like a locality, building type, window size, position and orientation. A practical evaluation of sunlight access into buildings is based on a standard methodology in EN 17037. The methodology based on parameters of minimum solar altitude is specified for given geographical locality and time of the sunlight exposure evaluation. The aim of this study is to compare how the sunlight exposure is changed in European regions. The evaluation is based on the standard limitations to specify potentials for the building insolation assessments in different geographical localities. Research value of the study deals with the general overview of the sunlight potential of building insolation in different European climatic regions. It can be important for building design and urban planning process in those localities. The research is focused on determining the minimum solar altitude for 33 capitals and for all days from 1st February to 21st March specified by the standard to ensure the required minimum insolation time.