Bringing natural light into your house is always a wonderful way of saving energy resources. It is an economical choice too. Interior decorators often encourage house owners to go for power saving options due to their multiple advantages.
One such option is using sun tunnels and ventilation systems in your house. This is a sure-fire way of saving lots of valuable energy and cutting down that electricity bill. However, before you get these sun tunnels installed you need to know how they work.
What are sun tunnels?
Sun tunnels are often called solar tubes or tubular skylights. So, do not be confused by all the technical jargon. They serve the same purpose as each other. Sun tunnels are being used by house owners on a large scale as they are very eco-friendly.
They are made from a simple tube of metal with a polished interior surface and a transparent or translucent cap on both ends. The cap on the roof allows the daylight to flood into the tube where it reflects and bounces off the surfaces to the interior cap below. This is usually made from a translucent material so that the light is diffuse and the interior of the tube isn't visible from inside of the room. In this configuration, the sun tunnel is effectively a zero-carbon option, as it only works with natural light.
For overcast days or at night, small, low power LED lights can be incorporated into the sun tunnel to augment the natural light, which would obviously stop it from being carbon neutral. However there are a number of exterior and garden lights which are solar powered, storing the daylight and using a light sensor to only shine at night. One of these could be easily re-purposed to provide more light while still using nothing but natural resources.
Such roofing materials can be easily incorporated into the design of a roof or extension at almost any stage of the build, even if it's something that you only decide to do once you realize the finished room has a dark corner.
