Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Technology of Indoor Solar Lighting

By Steve Schafer

How much do you know about solar lighting? Most people don't realize that it can be used both indoors and out. While many of us may not have considered using solar power to provide indoor lighting, it is becoming a growing trend world wide. It is a great way to save both money and energy.

Solar power has been being used, in one way or another since the 7th century BC, but the technology behind indoor solar lighting is still very young. Still, it is being used more and more often, especially in the United States to light small, remote structures such as in parks and natural reserve areas. Since these types of locations are very difficult and expensive to supply with conventional forms of lighting, they are perfect for this application. Indoor solar lighting is becoming more popular as more and more businesses in America are utilizing the technology as well.

Most of the indoor solar lighting in industrial use today is a mixture of solar light tube and solar powered light technology. Combinations of solar powered lighting and light tube technology are being used in high security applications like prisons. Solar light tubes are perfectly suited for this application, due to their ability to transfer considerable amounts of light to the interior of the structure using a very small footprint. This "hybrid" lighting method of combining solar powered lights as a back up to these light tubes produces a solar lighting system that is extremely efficient and effective.

There are actually many uses for indoor solar lights; like lighting up your garage, shed or gazebo - not to mention the inside of your home. The fact that you don't need an electrical source is a big advantage. All you need is a direct source of sunlight. No worrying about light bulbs or power outages. Indoor solar light installation is usually fairly easy and requires little if any maintenance and upkeep.

Getting power to a remote structure like a shed or detached garage to run even a single light bulb can be more trouble (and expensive) than it is worth. No problem - just install some indoor solar lights for a cheap and easy solution. For the inside of your home, you can try solar track lights and solar skylights as well.

It is no wonder that that indoor solar lighting is becoming so popular, with all of the different options that are becoming available. Check out your local home improvement store and you will likely find plenty of styles of these eco-friendly lighting products. It is truly exciting to see how rapidly the science is developing with nanoparticle research and solar ink technology, making it cheaper and easier for everyone to go solar. The great thing about using indoor solar lights is that you get to save money and help the environment!

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