Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sunlight in a Tube

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction dept.

Elitist_Phoenix writes "Scientists are developing a technology to save energy by transmitting sunlight into buildings through tubes. Indoor electric lighting is the largest consumer of electricity in commercial buildings. Their new system. called hybrid solar lighting, would reduce this energy usage with fixtures that supplement or completely replace electric light with sunlight, at times when its available. The system is called hybrid solar lighting (Google)."

3 of 463 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is nothing new... by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful
    To be honest, I rather doubt that the average Amish would be able to explain, at a fundamental level, how a mirror reflects light, or how propane burns.
    There is no fundamental level.
  2. Re:Sunblock? by welloy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a good point. Would the UV rays make it through the tube?

  3. What about the extra heat? by woobieman29 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wouldn't these optical waveguides also pipe quite a bit of heat into the room? This would be great in some areas, but I would think that the areas that would most likely have enough sunlight to benefit from this tech would be in hotter climates. would we just be trading lighting bills for cooling bills?

    --
    \/\/oobie