Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland
With a larger light collector like this you could light multiple rooms tho by having the light split off from a light shaft.
I've also been thinking about building a house at some point that has very few windows, because windows are a big source of heat loss, so having a few small windows that don't open, a few that do open for ventilation and light tubes like this to provide most of the light.
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If I was starting from scratch, I would use a lot of south facing triple pane super tight windows, and very few on the North side.
In our little home, Southern windows provide a lot of the required BTUs during the winter.
On days like today, when it's not real cold outdoors (50s) I open the front door and let the sun in.
The heat coming in the storm door's single pane, more than makes up for the loss out the leaky storm door..
Right now, the Heatpump is off and the living room is toasty..
However, I would not go overboard with southern glass, if you have hot sunny summers.
Your shades need to be able to reflect most of that energy back outdoors.
That needs to be a shade/window design consideration.