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Prism Glass Windows Making a Comeback
Steve Daley writes "Prism window glass like Luxfer was big back in the 19th century, but now it seems to be making a high-tech comeback in Japan, where several companies are commercializing similar technology that gets enough natural light into factories and offices to do away with electric lighting. It's easy on the pocket and the planet."
A Window!
This should cut back significantly on the amount of vampire activity in dark, corporate areas.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
There are a lot of advantages of natural light over fluorescent in terms of productivity and employee satisfaction. I don't know if you're talking $10,000 worth of advantage, but it is a factor.
Lucky for us companies tend to want to have the lights on all the time so it is not a big deal. also, HP shut off half the lights in one if its call centers for 8 hours during the dead of night to saver money. The result, multiple thousand dollar savings PER MONTH. So $5k will pay off quickly in the summer for companies using these.
Preview is a good thing. It would have saved me from all those spelling errors if I hadn't been in such a hurry.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a world first! A Slashdot post that praises windows!
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It's not a fair comparison if the quality of the light is important to you.
The light is way better than an el cheapo flourescent, especially if color matters to you at all. Or if spraying mercury in the room when the bulb breaks does. So plenty of people might be willing to take the penalty.
Obviously that depends somewhat on how sunny your locale is, though.
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Gee... I knew I loved this old house for some reason :) lots of glass windows and tall ceilings. No Luxfer prisms, but lots of stained glass and multiple large windows per room. Effectively we use almost no artificial light during daylight hours (except in the kitchen - tacked onto the house in 1910 or so). Similarly, we don't need air conditioning well into late June here in Illinois due to the way the house was built (and creative use of basement and attic doors).
Where I work, those effing Vampires would just use SPF 50 and make some lowpaid grunt bring the 55 gallon drum of it up the stairs to their office.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
Too expensive for my house, and apparently yours, but if you go to a high end design store you can find faucets that cost that much. Some people will pay a LOT of money for stuff to go in their houses.
You never really know how close to the edge you can go until you fall off.
How do you keep the concentrated beam of light from starting a fire?
Aim it at someone in Sales?
Natural lighting typically produces significantly less heat than electrical lighting, so you generally see a reduction in electricity costs related to air conditioning as well as for lighting (in commercial facilities where there is a lot of electrical lighting, these costs are measurable). I don't know about heating costs increasing in the winter time - but I would imagine the same phenomina is reversed.
http://natures-lighting.com/products.php?pid=2100
I imagine there's no way around the need for augmented lighting during the dark times, but having a central distribution point for lighting leaves your options pretty open. You could have one high powered central light source to shine directly at your collection point - and you could charge that light via solar power and augment it with good old fashioned coal. Alternatively, you could wire up each room for direct lighting, but that sort of defeats the purpose.
A big deal was made of the natural lighting system at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa when it was built 20 years ago. There's a NY Times article:
The light tumbles in from light monitors lined with Mylar, so it reflects as it bounces down into the gallery, and it is exquisite and constantly changing.
I don't exactly spend my free time hanging out there, but if I was to choose a gallery to hang out in, this would be it.
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So has the prism glass.
Nothing new here, move along...
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
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Sun tunnels pipe light in from the roof of a house to the interior ceiling.
They've been around for years, and look more practical than these things. At $229 for a 14" tunnel, and $329 for a 22" tunnel, they look a lot cheaper. There are many manufacturers, as well.
...I want a quality date in Japan!
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
...for patients in hospitals. When the City of Hope had their new hospital, the Helford Clinical Research Hospital, designed, one of the goals was to maximize the amount of natural light in the hospital. Lots of windows, skylights, and lobbies on all floors that are almost half glass and show a spectacular view of the Sierra Madre mountains. The result is something less clinical and alien, and something more like a hotel instead of a hospital.
I would think that heating and cooling a hospital with that huge amount of glass would be a difficult thing to do, and certainly not the most energy efficient. But the decision was made, and certainly the patients, doctors and nurses feel the difference. If a more energy efficient way can be found to bring daylight into the design of a hospital, that would be so much better.
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Having a prism screen filter would allow me to better fill my basement with the soft green glow of Slashdot. 70% on the ceiling, 20% on the floor. The remaining 10% will hit my face in a vain attempt to color my pale complexion.