From Wakapon
Characteristics of a BRDF
As I see it, integration of light alone times <N,L> yields the irradiance:
<math> I(\mathbf{x}) = \int\limits_{\Omega} L_i(\omega_i) (n.\omega_i) \, d\omega_i </math>
Integrating the BRDF over the hemisphere of directions must yield a radiance.
Sources
I've been reading interesting papers from the Siggraph 2012 talk about Practical Physically Based Shading in Film and Game Production which is available here
Some ideas are worth mentioning.