Solar Tubes For Indoor Lighting - Renewable Energy For the Modern World

!±8± Solar Tubes For Indoor Lighting - Renewable Energy For the Modern World

Solar tubes for indoor lighting are perfect in bringing in natural lighting inside the windowless parts of your home. This eco-friendly product uses a renewable energy resource, so you don't have to worry about high electricity bills or contributing to the world's pollution problems. If there's one solar-powered product you should check out, solar tubes for indoor lighting should be at the top of your list.

Tubes (or daylight pipes) work by installing a dome-like fixture, which serves to absorb sunlight from your rooftop. The absorbed sunlight is directed by a highly reflective piping system (usually made from aluminum) into the indoor diffuser lens situated on the ceiling of your dimly lit room. Depending on the manufacturer, the average tube kits are capable of lighting a room as wide as 150-450 square feet.

Homeowners, who are always looking for different ways to save up on their energy bills, would definitely find solar tubes as worthy investments. Despite the fact that the initial purchase cost of these is not considered cheap, the money you've saved from low electricity bills will eventually pay for it. And you don't even have to worry about harmful carbon emissions because these don't have any.

These tubes are the right lighting fixtures for homeowners who are not yet prepared for expensive home renovation costs. If you're pretty confident with your carpentry skills, you can install solar tube lighting kits with ease and in no time at all - usually, installation instructions are already included with the solar tube product. Solar tube lighting are comparatively small in size and you can integrate these into your existing roofing system without the need for additional support fixtures. You can use these to naturally brighten your attic, closet, bedroom, or hallway.

If you search the internet, you would find several manufacturers that offer high-quality pre-built solar products that would fit your budget and requirements. The tube kits by Solatube are available in 10-inch and 14-inch diameters that are priced at 5 and 3 respectively if with extension tubes. These are even eligible for a 30% federal tax credit.

Consumers, who live in sunny and warm weathers, don't have to worry about these types of light tubes increasing the temperature inside their homes. Solar lighting produce minimal amount of heat and are even built to protect us from the harmful UV rays of the sun.

So, if you're looking for a lighting fixture that could save you money from expensive energy bills, bring in more natural lighting into your home, and are eco-friendly at the same time, solar tubes for indoor lighting have all these qualities that you've been looking for. Make sure to check the quality of the product and buy only from trusted brands in the market.

Solar Tubes For Indoor Lighting - Renewable Energy For the Modern World

Parkside Trampoline Save You Money!

The Solar Lights Experience Part 3 - Indoor Solar Skylights!

!±8± The Solar Lights Experience Part 3 - Indoor Solar Skylights!

In my last articles I outlined my fist experience with outdoor solar path lights and how I went on to add some accent lighting and solar spot lights. Well, it turns out that I was so happy with those projects that I decided to see what else was offered in the way of solar lighting.

First of all, I need to tell you that I am a big fan of do-it-yourself projects. I come from a construction background and I am friends with most tools. Needless to say, I am always looking for ways to make my home better. Since I had just finished with all of my outdoor solar projects, I was looking for other projects along those lines. When I say that the project I found was a lot easier than I expected, it is not only because of my background. It really was easy. After doing some research, I ordered a solar skylight.

I stumbled upon a link for solar skylights and I thought it looked kind of cool, but maybe a little pricey. It also looked like the kind of project that would be a bit of a challenge. Turns out that I was wrong on both accounts. After shopping around, I bought a very nice solar kit for a little over 0. Yep, 0!! It came with everything I needed, including templates (for cutting the holes). The manufacturer said that installation should take about 2-3 hours. They were actually wrong there. This is how the whole thing went:

When I got the package, I made sure that all the parts were there and that the flashing was correct for my roof. The flashing is important. It comes in flat and sloped roof varieties. It also came with templates for the roof cutout and the ceiling hole as well. The "light fixture" itself actually looked like a regular light fixture. You couldn't really tell that it was solar by looking at it.

The location I chose was the hall bathroom. This location was perfect because that bathroom had no exhaust fan and the existing lights were mounted on the wall above the mirror as opposed to the ceiling, which meant I could still use them. I picked a spot where I wanted the fixture to be and drove a nail through the ceiling sheet rock. I put some tape on the nail so it wouldn't fall and went into the attic crawl space. I pulled the insulation and found my nail. I used a makeshift plumb-bob to line my nail up with a spot on the underside of the roof and drove another nail up though the roof. Now, according to the instructions, the dome and fixture do not have to be exactly lined up, but the better they line up, the more light you get.

Next, I went up on the roof and found my nail. I removed some roof tiles and used the template to cut my hole in the roof with a jigsaw. I then set the dome, diffuser, and flashing in place. I went back into the attic and cut my hole in the ceiling for the fixture. From that point, I just needed to go back into the bathroom and mount the fixture, go back into the attic to attach the tubing from the dome assembly to the fixture, and screw in the dome flashing. I also decided to use some aluminum tape around the tube joints. Total installation time - 1 hour, 40 minutes! Now, my attic access is really close to that bathroom, so that helped reduce the installation time. I also used an orbital jig saw (Porter Cable) and an impact screw gun. Your results may vary.

So, the solar skylight is done, but how does it work? It works awesomely! Even on overcast days, it gives off a ton of light. In fact, that bathroom is brighter during the day than it used to be with the lights on! I want to put another one in the other bathroom to replace the light/fan that I have in there. I will need to put lights above the mirror though for night time.

The Solar Lights Experience Part 3 - Indoor Solar Skylights!

Recipe Rice Crispie Treats Compare