Sunlight in a Tube

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)."

Comments

Heating and cooling options..

[nolife]

Off topic here but I have been wondering about an alternate heating/cooling system for a while and have found no information on this concept. Since this article is about energy saving, I assume people interested in that may be reading and may be able insight as to if this method would work...

Use alternate cooling/heating for the outdoor portions of a freon based cooling/heat pump system with water from underground. Underground temperature is usually quite stable at 55F. Basically, 55F degree water or a different cooling medium like car antifreeze (or some other product more environmentally friendly) at this temperature would be much more efficient at cooling/heating the condenser then using 80+ air or 30- air in the winter or summer. You could have an underground tank with a cooling medium in it that could act as a heat dump and pump the relatively warm or cold fluid up to the the existing outdoor unit for cooling. It would also be much quieter depending on design as you would not need a fan. I assume digging a hole and placing a concrete tank under the ground with a volume required consistent with your heating/cooling needs would be much cheaper in the long run then using a standard heat pump and air cooling. Obviosuly concrete is not the best conductor of heat but a steel tank may be better. Again, I have not calculated anything out so maybe my idea is out to lunch. I know I read a story about Toronto using cold water from the bottom of lake Ontario or Erie for summer cooling so progress has been in that direction, just not for home use or as an addition to typical home heat pump use.

Re:What's the system called?

[soft_guy]

My friend's dog was on that show.