Hybrid solar lighting is a relatively new technology that combines sunlight with artificial incandescent or fluorescent lighting, saving 60% or more off indoor lighting costs. Lighting alone consumes 30% of our electricity production (UCSB 2007).
With the world headed toward renewable energy, which (as of 2009) costs much more than energy from fossil fuels, we need to reduce our energy consumption while switching to renewable sources. This way, we can install fewer renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and dams, but continue to enjoy the same energy-hungry devices we use now.
Since lighting is the largest consumer of electricity produced in the United States, we need to reduce the amount of energy required to light the interior of buildings (sunlight-direct). Hybrid solar lighting provides one way of using a reliable renewable energy source, the sun, to light the interior of buildings. Hybrid solar lighting distributes natural sunlight through the existing artificial lighting system. This gives hybrid solar lighting systems the energy-saving light production by the sun with the reliability of artificial lights. <read more - hybrid solar lighting>
Brandon Best - bestenergynews.com
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