Flexible Sunlight—The History and Progress of Hybrid Solar Lighting

Abstract

Over the past 150 years lighting has evolved significantly, enabling great spatial, temporal, and intellectual extension of the human domain. With the ability to safely generate light on demand, complex living and working spaces have evolved. The length of a useful day is no longer limited to sunlit hours. Intellectual pursuits continue around the clock, allowing the productivity that was once associated with “burning the midnight oil” to occur in well-lighted homes, businesses, and universities. With this progress has come an enormous energy burden. Lighting now accounts for one-third of the non-residential electricity usage and is the largest single use of electricity in non-residential buildings. The majority of the activity in non-residential buildings still occurs during hours when the sun is shining, making it possible to offset at least part of the electrical lighting load through daylighting. Introducing daylighting into existing buildings requires cultural and technical development. As a culture we must comprehend the value of daylighting, in terms of societal and environmental benefits. However, to introduce daylighting into existing buildings, the technology must be available in a form that is compatible with existing infrastructure. The technology must also be presented in a way that enables it to be embraced by the architects and lighting designers that will be responsible for implementing it. Hybrid solar lighting is a daylighting solution that is specifically designed to be flexibly integrated into modern building systems.