Solar Lighting – A New Industry

The use of natural light for illumination in buildings has great potential for both energy conservation and increased human comfort and worker productivity. A solar lighting industry is evolving that provides some of the components needed for solar lighting systems. Complete solar lighting systems are available from a few manufacturers for specialty applications. Currently the “industry” is a loosely-knit group of engineers, architects, designers, and manufacturers, mostly of components. A major problem is that there are no industry standards governing either illumination or energy performance of these systems. It is not surprising that the public knows little about the field. Suggestions are made for overcoming past limitations and for forming the solar lighting community into a coordinated industry. The main conclusion is that more organization and cooperation is needed within this new industry.