Pumping Sunlight Into Homes

ByronScott sends a snippet from Inhabitat that begins "What if you could light your entire building using no electricity or artificial lights – but just the natural light from our favorite star, the Sun? Enter the Sundolier, a powerful sunlight transport system that's like putting a solar robot on your roof to pump sunlight indoors. The manufacturer claims a single Sundolier unit can provide enough light to illuminate a 1,000-2,500 sq. ft. area [93-232 sq. m] without any other sources." The company's website is a bit thin on details, such as what happens on cloudy days, or how many days of sunlight per year on average are needed for the device to perform acceptably.

Comments

There are no details

[BobPaul]

It's thin on the details because there are no details. This is just a flexible aluminum tube and a diffuser. The only thing different about this than the kits you can get at Menards is the big collector array which tracks the sun.

There's no solar panels in this system. On cloudy days, you use electric lighting.

Our Sundolier delivers sunlight so effectively that electric lighting can be turned off when the sun is out offering excellent opportunities to save electricity while reducing heat generation through cool indirect daylighting.

There's no mention anywhere, not in the inhabitat.com article, nor the companies website, that this does anything on cloudy days.

50W lightbulb using a common 2L Bottle

[Hadlock]

This has been done in the 3rd world for ages. You drill a hole in your roof, mount a 2L soda bottle filled with water (and two cap-fulls of bleach to keep it clean and clear), and stick an old black plastic film canister overtop of the white lid to keep the plastic from degrading. The video of these in use is amazing. Sadly however it only works when the sun is up - which is most of the workday (12 hrs typically) in the tropics.
 
Watch it in action. Wow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMAWztZ6TI

Re:50W lightbulb using a common 2L Bottle

[value_added]

Maybe you're the person to ask ...

Some years back I stopped for a meal at a restaurant in the historical district of a small town here in California. The restaurant was a converted barn of some sort and had two large double doors for an entrance. During business hours, those doors were left open, as were another set of interior doors that led to an open air patio outside. Hanging on the wall by each sets of doors was a large 1-quart ziplock bag. The bag was filled with water.

Noticing the bags, I asked the owner about them. She told me they were there to keep the flies from coming into the restaurant. I asked how a water-filled bag worked to keep flies away, and she said, "No idea, but do you see any flies in here?" Indeed, there were no flies to be seen (though there were some outside). She went on to tell me that that they had a regular fly problem years back, and one day a local immigrant gardner suggested the bags. The rest, as they say, is history.

I'd guess an entomologist might be the one to ask, but have you heard of this technique being used?

Re:50W lightbulb using a common 2L Bottle

[masterQba]

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1956/whats-the-purpose-of-bags-of-water-hanging-in-restaurants/ The water bag acts as a lens that enhances movement. The flies react to the movement - they stay away.

Re:Bradbury story -- it was Bob Shaw

[andrewbaldwin]

I think you mean "Other Days, Other Eyes" by Bob Shaw

Thanks for reminding me -- I read it many years ago and enjoyed it - may re-read it now :-)

It also appeals to another Slashdot meme - an evil government using crop-dusters to sow millions of shards of 'slow glass' to act as passive surveillance.

Re:Why haven't these been around?

[eclectro]

I've wondered for years why nobody made something like this... (Or have they, and I just didn't know about it?)

You just haven't known about it. This is a variation upon a theme of the solar tube. You can even get them in Costco now for under $200 USD each. Though this company appears to be trying to patent this very specific design, a parabolic collector feeding sunlight indoors is not new, and much of the technology is in the public domain and used with varying degrees of success. Naturally, you'll have a higher performing system the more money you put into it, but a good ROI is difficult to achieve as with any solar product. Of course, there also is something to be said for getting off the grid (and more reliability outside of cloudy days) in itself, which may be difficult to put a price on.