Sunlight, the best renewable energy source, How to monetize it?

by George Mistry Energy Consultant

Solar Energy

Is there a way we cannot think of the abrogation of the earths’ life span by not compromising with our energy needs? Definitely, there is! Isn’t it? Sunlight is incessant-even though not always- harmless and hence is one of the many possibilities that we can experiment on to improve the efficiency in its ability to offer us, the energy we need and thus meeting the global demand.

We have heard a lot about clean energy in the recent days that has the potential to keep our planet running avoiding an energy crisis. Clean energy is all the forms of renewable energy that is gifted by nature to mankind such as wind, solar, waves, geothermal heat etc.

Out of all these clean energy sources, sunlight is the most common and the easiest available form of energy. It has been offering brilliant solutions to today’s energy problems in terms of cost, environmental safety and so on.

There are a lot of ways in which this solar power can be made use for our every day purposes and be monetized in a cost effective and environmental friendly way.

Even though sunlight is not meeting the most of our energy demands, for instance, in the US solar energy contributes to three tenths of one percent (0.003%)of the total energy generated, but to vie with climate change, as more clear form of energy is demanded, countries like Japan, US, Germany are putting in efforts to rise of the solar energy share of its total.

Making use of the daylight in an efficient way to store and make it replenish the darkness whenever required may sound very simple, but has emerged as a ground breaking idea. One of the simplest technique, daylight energy and its various aspects are explained here below.

Daylight Energy & Solution- An introduction:

The latest advancement in the solar field is the daylight solutions offered by solar power with the help of skylights. It is an amazing and exciting discovery that will help us a lot in our lighting needs.

Lighting is one basic requisite for everything under the sun to flourish. May it be plants, animals or human beings, light is very obviously necessary. Conventional lighting systems have been failing us with a handful of disadvantages that could cost dearly on the life of our planet apart from the cost factor.

Isn’t it wonderful if we make use of the daylight energy showered by the shining sun by capturing it and utilizing it to brighten up our personal or professional buildings? This is what has been made possible by our modern day science! There are skylights available, especially natural light tubular skylights that make this awesome phenomenon simply possible.

These skylights can illuminate your residential house or apartments and even commercial buildings like your office space, shops etc. They can be mounted on ceilings, roof tops (either flat or pitched) etc.

Natural light tubular skylights

Simply put, a natural light tubular skylight is an arrangement or unit that stores and redirects the received sunlight during the day time and makes it possible for us to make use of it instead of conventional electrical lighting set ups even during the darker part of the day.

It has no electric, electronic parts or wires and sparks that dissipate waste of energy as heat and is completely natural. It lets natural sunlight enter into your house.

· How it works?

A natural light tubular skylight consists of a dome, a tube and a lighting fixture. The dome collects the sunlight from dawn till dusk, passes through the tubular structure to the lighting fixture mounted on your ceiling that dissipates the received and stored sunlight via a diffuser.

Why tubular skylights?

There are two major and broad advantages of natural light tubular skylights I n addition to a number of other benefits. The two advantages are nothing but what we are mostly concerned about.

1. Cost effectiveness

2. Eco-friendliness

3. Other benefits

Cost effective:

· No electricity bills:

You can be satisfied a lot that you don’t get any monthly electricity bills as the power tariffs continue to make a big hole in your pocket. These tubular skylights are not connected to any external power grid or source and consume no power. It is just a direct transmission of natural light from the outdoors to your desired indoor location.

· Zero maintenance:

The product normally comes up with a minimum warranty of a decade with no structural changes or any other related costs during installation. The entire system is protected from all form of harsh weather, dust, moisture and hence requires no maintenance costs due to any damage once after installation.

In addition, they are also leak proof preventing water from getting in. Even the dome which is exposed to sunlight is made of special stress absorbing material that prevents it from cracking under high temperatures.

· Installation cost:

Installation cost can be reduced to zero as it is an easy do-it-yourself task with no special skills and tools required except a saw. Generally, like any other product, the kit comes with a do-it-yourself instruction book that will guide easily anyone to install the arrangement seamlessly.

· Tax benefits

As it is an environmental friendly arrangement, the usage is encouraged with tax benefits in developed countries.

Eco-friendliness:

· No green house gases: This skylight does make use of clean naturally available solar energy and undergoes no processing but a seamless redirection where the natural light enters your building, which is a healthier and better option than conventional lighting equipments. There is no green house gas like Carbon-di-oxide emission that is harmful for the planet.

· Screens harmful UV radiation: This type of skylight setup allows natural sunlight into your buildings screening out almost 99% the hazardous UV radiation that are harmful at to human system. Conventional non tubular type skylights do not restrict UV radiation.

· Energy efficient: These tubular skylights maximize energy efficiency in many ways that they let enough solar radiation through a smaller opening and transmit them to the fixture with no greater loss. 98% of the radiation absorbed by the dome will be made use to produce brighter lighting.

Other benefits:

· Different models:

Residential and commercial tubular skylights come in different models to suit the various locations and purposes. Normally the diameter of the tube varies from 10” to 21” to produce enough brightness accordingly. Thus you have a range of options to choose from to match your requirement.

· Accessories (including remote control):

The product is compatible with a lot of accessories to customize its application according to your requirement. For instance, a remote control can be used to dim the skylight off during the day time, if you wish to have a darker ambience. Other accessories include vent kit that can be used in bathrooms, electrical kit for lighting during the night. Even the diffuser can be chosen from different types to suit your mood of lighting requirement.

This summarizes a comprehensive understanding of the advantages of tubular skylight that makes no harm to your budget and to the environment.

Conclusion

In India, there are a lot of brands offering day lighting products, the first in the country being skyshade.in. As the world is moving faster towards a cleaner energy trend, it is a wiser decision to shift gears to natural day lighting options as it could save the world from a lot of environmental mishaps, contribute to sustainable development and make this world a better place for the future generations to come.