During this series, we’ve discussed how daylighting solutions can benefit your mental and physical health, and how they can make your home more welcoming in every room. What we haven’t looked at yet, is how daylighting can save you a lot of money in the long run. This blog will discuss why this is, and what you can do in your own home to save.
Save Money on Lighting Costs
It’s no secret that a home with natural daylighting is going to be more energy efficient than one relying on lights. But you might be surprised to find out that installing daylighting can reduce a home’s lighting costs up to 80%! This could include anything from installing skylights, to creating more opportunities for windows. The more natural light, the better!
An ideal way to save the most on lighting costs is to replace the light bulbs in your house with Solatube skylights. Replacing electric lighting with Solatube daylighting means that all the energy you would be using via bulbs is replaced with natural light that takes up no energy at all. If you’re in the process of designing a new home, this can easily be achieved by designing the floor plan with this in mind. Solatube systems can be installed at any point just as easily, so consider making the switch on some or all of your lights, in order to save in the long run.
If you’re a night owl, and are concerned about how you’ll see at night without bulbs, a smart option is the Solatube Smart LED Light, which combines all the benefits of a top-of-the-line daylighting system with incredibly energy efficient LED lighting. It even automatically turns on as soon as the sun sets. Isn’t that smart?
Save Money on Cooling Costs
Not only can daylighting help you save on lighting costs, but it can also help to reduce air conditioning costs. Solatube daylighting technology works to capture natural light, while rejecting harsh midday sun. This makes it extremely effective at reducing the amount of heat that enters your home – up to half the heat that you would usually get! Imagine the difference this can make to your air conditioning usage.
We all know the feeling of a hot summer’s night - Instead of having fans blasting at us all through the night, or leaving the air conditioning on 24/7, it is much more cost effective to implement Solatube skylights that prevent the heat from coming in in the first place.
Save Money on Heating Costs
In summer, the easiest way to heat your home is to let in as much natural light as possible. If you’re putting the heater on in the summer months, your home is probably not getting enough daylight during vital hot hours. Homes with skylights NZ-wide don’t have to worry about this issue, as they get enough regulated natural light to heat their home, even if it’s on an angle that doesn’t catch the sun very easily.
In the winter, getting enough heat in your home is a bit trickier. Heat escapes through windows more than it does from any other surface of your home, so in winter it’s a good idea to keep the curtains closed more often than you would in summer. This is another area where Solatube systems can come in handy.
Solatube skylights preserve your homes insulation, which means that in winter when you want to get natural light without compromising the warmth of your home, you can! Keeping your home insulated is vital when it comes to reducing energy costs, so this is one of the best ways you can save money on heating costs during the winter.
Want to know more?
This is the last blog in our ‘Light and You’ series, so if you’re not convinced about natural daylighting and the benefits it can have yet, talk to us today for more information or for a free consultation and quote to see the difference yourself!