Use skylights, transparent roof panels and light tubes to cut lighting bills
Installing skylights, transparent roof panels and light tubes can significantly cut the use of artificial lighting – particularly where the work environment is not able to take advantage of natural light.
According to the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI),[1] a skylight can admit more than three times as much light as a vertical window of the same size.[2] Depending on the type of building that you’re in, this form of ‘daylighting’ offers significant potential to reduce lighting energy costs.
If your business has a warehouse, garage or workshop, transparent roof panels and skylights can significantly reduce the use of artificial light.
In addition to saving you money on electricity, natural daylight can often provide you with better quality light.
With professional advice and good design, a skylight system can also generate less heat than the electric lighting that it replaces. This can help to reduce air-conditioning costs.
- If you’d like to know more about the money-saving potential of skylights, the Skylight Industry Association has a useful guide here: EnergyCut.info/skylight-info
- To get professional advice on installing skylights and light tubes, you can find a member of the Skylight Industry Association here: EnergyCut.info/skylight-installers
What to look for when buying a skylight
When assessing different skylights, ask how much heat they let out and how much heat they block from coming in.
- The amount of heat the skylight lets out is measured as a ‘U-value’. The lower the U-value, the better it is from a heat retention point of view.
- The amount of heat that the skylight blocks from coming in is measured as an ‘SHGC value’. The lower the SHGC value, the better it is at blocking sun-generated heat from entering your premises.
When making a decision about skylights, try and buy the product with the lowest U-value and the lowest SHGC value.
Whyalla Veterinary Clinic, SA
“Most of the time we work the sun is shining,” said Dr. Andrew Melville-Smith of Whyalla Veterinary Clinic, referring to his clinic’s innovative system of skylights. “Now instead of using electricity to light the interior of the clinic, the sunlight streams in through the skylights.”[3]
The world’s first hybrid light tube
Solatube have invented a hybrid light tube that is supplemented by LED lighting, an occupancy sensor and a daylight sensor that continually monitors light levels.
When daylight is present, the light tube deactivates the LED lighting. When daylight wanes, it turns the lights on – but only if someone is present in the room!
This hybrid lighting system is an Australian invention that can cut lighting energy use by up to 94%.[4]