http://www.world-science.net/othernews/050310_suntubefrm.htm Looks sooooo coooool. Instead of silvered tubes in your roof (the other method i know of of sunlight transmission) it's just thick optical cable that you can wire anywhere! Neat idea imo.
looks brilliant, that could save a lot of space and energy. would work ok in the uk, not grate though.
This would still be useful though for transmitting natural light into rooms where there would normally be none, for example corridors and large office rooms, or my room at university (north facing and in the shadow of another part of my block, it gets hardly any natural light..wish there was a way I could get sunlight in here really, flourescent lighting off a strip light isn't very nice in comparison ).
does this mean i can finally get rid of my windows and truely block out the outside world? i could see this being kinda cool really, having rods of light down a wall would make a very pretty feature in a building aswell as lighting usually only bulb lit areas
Wouldn't it be hard to maintain the light receivers, as they'd get dirty after a while from the weather...? Less hassle to turn on a light..
OT, but ironic that "World Science" can't produce a site that works in Firefox (right-hand frame especially). Code: <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
That would work fine until the sun went down. Then you would have to either have a second lighting system (Old fashioned electric) or a light source to feed the fiber optics. I do not know if you folks get This Old House over there, but they are making fiber optic lighting systems here in the USA. The show had a demonstration in the bunker hill house. The stairs did not have a good depth for regular lighting, so they installed a fiber-optic set up. A possible link would be PBS.org then find the This Old House link.
If you lot READ the article, it says they have a computer controlled system that mediates the light between soft-electrical lighting and natural light.
I read it all, honest guv, noted they're doing the trial in Hawaii which is a bit sunnier than Manchester.
lol, i can just see it now: "It works great here.. in.. Hawaii, not that we ever spend much time in doors anyway"
Same here :/ All these technologies are fantastic, but just like solar, I don't think real feasable unless you live in a climate like the southwestern US (Navada, New Mexico, S. California, etc)..
Pff. You want the snow? You can have it ALL, yesterday was the "official" beginning of Spring and it's supposed to snow all day today and Wednesday plus it's not supposed to get out of the 30's for at least a week. Global warming my ass. I want to work on my car damn it (no garage)! /rant /ot
sorry about OT, but if I understand correctly, Global warming will shutdown the gulf stream which is keeping you Brits warm. Global warming for you means freezing!
