EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Lighting
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-15-10, 12:12 PM   #1
Daox
Administrator
 
Daox's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Germantown, WI
Posts: 5,525
Thanks: 1,162
Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts
Default A Robot to Light Up Your Life (or at least your home)

This is basically a solatube on steroids. It has a tracker on the roof and delivers much more light. Interesting concept, but probably not practical. Still, cool enough to post.

A Robot to Light Up Your Life (or at least your home) | Techi.com





__________________
Current project -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Daox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-10, 08:57 PM   #2
RobertSmalls
Journeyman EcoRenovator
 
RobertSmalls's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 344
Thanks: 3
Thanked 17 Times in 15 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
Still, cool enough to post.
Agreed, thanks.

From the first image, it looks extremely pricey. It would also be tempting to try to scale it up so it would be bright enough for, say, a gym. This apparatus can cook a hot dog in 12s.



But that might pose a fire hazard.
RobertSmalls is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-15-10, 11:41 PM   #3
Xringer
Lex Parsimoniae
 
Xringer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
Default

Wha? Hotdog in 12 seconds? NICE!!

That solatube thing looks like a 1/5 slice of a dish..
If they are going to add a solar tracker, why not have a larger capture area?


However, having a solar powered robot gathering photons is kinda cool..
(I like mine)!
Xringer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-17-10, 10:30 PM   #4
strider3700
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island BC
Posts: 745
Thanks: 23
Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts
Default

I posted the pictures of my solatube install in a different thread here. that is the smallest sized tube I could buy a 10". They go up to 18" that I've seen in stores locally. a little rough math suggests that the 18" will let in 3 times as much light as my 10". My old house had a 12" I believe in the kitchen and it was blinding to look at directly on a sunny day.

Basically my point is I seriously doubt you would need something like this in a residential house. Maybe a large commercial store would see pay back but at home you never would.
strider3700 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 09:14 AM   #5
Ryland
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Western Wisconsin.
Posts: 913
Thanks: 127
Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts
Default

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.
Ryland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 09:43 AM   #6
Xringer
Lex Parsimoniae
 
Xringer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland View Post
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.

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.
Xringer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 11:52 AM   #7
strider3700
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island BC
Posts: 745
Thanks: 23
Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts
Default

Agreed, with a well designed overhang or adjustable shades south facing windows do a great job of heating the house up.

My super leaky low wall insulation house get up to a nice toasty 23 or 24 C on sunny days when it's in the low teens outside and that is enough to not need the fire going or heat pump running unless we drop near freezing at night. If the house was better insulated I don't think we'd need heating at all on sunny days.

The overhangs work out pretty well that no sun comes directly in until late august and is pouring in by early october on all of our rooms except one basement window that has no overhang. It gets hot during the summer so we keep the blinds closed in it.

Today is cloudy unlike yesterdays full sun and the house is much cooler and not warming. It's 18 upstairs at the moment so probably 16 down. I'll be forced to light the fire in a few hours.
strider3700 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 01:22 PM   #8
Xringer
Lex Parsimoniae
 
Xringer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
Default

When we purchased this house in 1973, it had large canvas awnings for the front and side (west) windows.

They were great during the summer, but had to be taken indoors during the winter.
Way too much work..

We ordered Low-E replacement windows (expect for the picture window), but
it seems they messed up our order and we got the plain model..
If we had not got such a great deal on the installation (from a friend),
I would have sent them back..

~~~

I like the idea of the Over-hang.. I see than built into the houses down in Texas.
I was thinking of adding some stylish looking PV panels above my southern windows.
But, my wife doesn't think they look like real awnings..
Xringer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 03:13 PM   #9
strider3700
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island BC
Posts: 745
Thanks: 23
Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts
Default

I had to look at your picture again to notice you had no overhangs. Pretty much every house built up here has at least 18" if not 2 feet of overhang. It's just standard here, done more to keep rain off of the siding then for solar shading. I just lucked out when we bought this place.

The other advantage of the overhang is that means the top of the trusses on the roof are 8" or so above the top of the wall meaning I have 6" of insulation on top of the plate and still have space for venting. I then step it up to nearly 2' deep back from the wall. It's not a uniform R60 across the entire roof but it is over 95% of it and the remaining 5% gets close to R20
strider3700 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-18-10, 03:41 PM   #10
Xringer
Lex Parsimoniae
 
Xringer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
Default

Yeah, no overhang means no real area to place insulation over the wall top plate.
And, there aren't any soffits to hold vents..


When we had the playroom addition built on the back of our house, we got 6" soffits! And, a ridge vent! It was in the early 80s..
That attic area is enclosed, no access. No way to add insulation without doing some cutting.


After adding attic insulation last year (to the main 1956 attic),
I stuffed those tight wall-cap areas with as much insulation as I could fit in there, without compressing it too much..
(Since there is already zero air flow).
I used my IR pistola to find where heat was coming up from below..


My Mom's house has some real overhang..


It does get a bit sunny in south Texas..

Xringer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:48 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design