Indoor Solar Lights

Up until this point, we have mostly discussed outdoor solar lights and the different applications for them. In this article, I would like to discuss indoor solar lights. Most of us find that even during the day, the rooms of our homes can be quite dark, unless the windows are left open. This means we either sacrifice our privacy, or turn on the lights. Lights = electricity, right? Not necessarily.

One great way to light up the inside of your home during the day is with a “solar skylight”. These aren’t actually solar lights, because they do not use a solar cell to transform light into energy to be stored and used for another purpose. They are actually like a regular skylight that uses reflective tubing between the roof and the ceiling to basically “funnel” the light into the room. Many of these solar skylights even allow for adjustment of the intensity of the light as well. These lights have huge benefits over standard lighting and even conventional skylights. Some of these include:

• It can go anywhere. The compact and flexible design of solar skylights permit them to be installed in about any room, including rooms without direct roof access and smaller spaces where day-lighting would usually not be an option.
• Installing it’s quick, tidy and easy. There is no structural framing, tunneling, sheet-rocking or painting. A professional can install the product in less than three hours and most Do-It-Yourselfers can finish the project in a single day.
• It is very cost-effective – Tubular solar skylights cost considerably less than other day-lighting options, such as skylights and windows.
• It’s “Green.” Solar skylights permit you to switch off electric lights during the day, which provides savings on energy bills and also reduces environmental pollution.
• It’s actually healthy for you. Several prominent studies have shown that increased daily exposure to natural light can enhance physical and mental well-being, and boost energy and concentration levels.

There are also other forms of indoor solar lights for a variety of other applications

Some of them fairly simple and others much more involved. Finding information about other forms of indoor solar lights is a little more difficult. Most require the installation of separate source of solar power that you can use to power your solar lights as well as just about everything else in your home. One form of indoor lighting technology that is getting more and more feasible as we speak is Hybrid Solar Lighting. There are some great ways to use solar lights indoors, however that do not require much work at all.

Most home improvement stores sell portable solar lights. These are lights that you can put anywhere that you need light at night that gets sun during the day. What if your home got adequate sunlight in the kitchen during the day? Could you place one of these portable solar lights in your kitchen so that it would charge during the day and provide light at night? Sounds like a great idea! How about a set of track lights that mount in the ceiling where you only need to run a single wire to a small solar source outside? That would work as well. If you use your imagination, you will find many ways to use indoor solar lights to save you money and help save the planet.