Ideally, light quality and light consistency can be achieved in one system. A 'hybrid' light source marries up the supplementary light source with the natural light source. By turning the power off to the supplementary system, you have natural lighting only. On the Parans brand system, to turn off natural light (think shiftworker sleeping mid-day) requires the purchase of a switching system to turn the solar-collecting lenses away from the sun.
It seems to me, full control is required on a residential system. The least expensive way to achieve full control, is to have parallel light sources that are unconnected, and a manual blind made available which turns off the sunlight if desired.
Commercially, it makes sense to me to desire a full hybrid solar lighting system. Light needs are more or less constant throughout the day, and the varying degrees of supplementary lighting added must occur without thought - automatically.
Commercial users are probably the largest component of the interested market because they are operational through the day and have more interior versus window-walls than residences do.
They also spend a considerable amount on electricity for lighting purposes - I have read estimates are as high as 30% of the total electricity consumed.
For my project, which looks at a residential application of solar lighting, I foresee two parallel systems - one for natural lighting, one for anytime lighting.
The first is solar, and nets as much capability as it can gather. The need for lighting at home during the day is reduced unless you work at home and home-based business is pretty popular! If you are an artist, a stay at home parent with children who school at home, or maybe you grow plants indoors away from windows (hmmm) then solar lighting sounds good.
The second can be a conventional light system, supplemented by PV panels or just using high efficiency lighting, ie. LED or fluorescent fixtures. Because science hasn't gotten to the place of storing light for later use, we need this secondary ( or should I be calling it 'primary') light source for nighttime use anyway.
Thanks for reading - Please comment anytime!
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i wonder if technology like this would be better used in a commercial building. ie. Walmart, Costco, etc. In this case it might be finacially viable to install considering the cost savings during the day.
ReplyDeleteHey Tyler,
ReplyDeleteIt's true that the payback is quicker because they use more electricity overall, and they have much greater daytime lighting needs. I already suggested to Graham, who is researching energy efficiency improvements to big box retail stores, that he might want to include hybrid solar lighting for consideration, and I offered to help him out if he does.
The residential application of HSL that I chose was to satisfy my own curiousity about where the technology falls on a smaller scale, in smaller buildings.
Good perception of perhaps the ideal scale for this lighting technology though!
Cheers,
Tony