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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)."

2 of 463 comments (clear)

  1. This is nothing new... by qwertphobia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    all the Amish retailers here use the same sort of thing. They can light a supermarket with redirected light during daylight hours, and light up the propane system once the natural light is gone.

    --
    Never ask for directions from a two-headed tourist! -Big Bird
  2. Re:Or sunpipe.. by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Interesting
    What I really would like to see is the "slow windows" of science fiction - where you have a glass-like medium through which the speed of light is EXTREMELY slow, say taking 10 years to travel through the pane.

    Put the window in a field for 10 years, let it soak up the sunlight and the scenery, then hang it indoors on any wall, and get a clear view of what went on 10 years ago.

    Of course, since light goes both ways, at the end of the 10 years, if you unmount the window and look in from the back you'd be able to see what went on in the house 10 years ago. I can see a LOT of people (hello Michael Jackson) "accidently breaking" their slow windows when they expire.

    Oh, well, maybe the next version of Longhorn will give us a similar experience with "slow windows [tt]"