Subject: Re: Skylights: The Flourescent Conspiracy

From: [email-masked] (Nick Pine)
Date: 14 Jun 1995 14:46:21 -0400

Mark. Gooley <[email-masked]> wrote:
 
>A sunscoop might not be necessary, but a lot of summer overhang would
>be a good idea.

Well, a sunscoop can provide both, as well as easily concentrate the
heat and light gain in winter by 2 or 3:1, while using a smaller aperture
into the building for heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer.

>In the summer you'd get at least as much light as from
>a northern exposure, and in the winter some solar gain as well.

Vy does everyone want to have North-facing skylights? The sun is in the South!

>Do fluorescents dim well even with a special ballast?

I think you need new ballasts to dim them completely. Lutron makes a
nice dimmer. And somebody makes a whole system with a serial addressable
digital interface, to control individual units in small increments, with
one serial bus.

>Maybe a "digital" approach is better: use a lot of those new 34-watt thin
>tubes rather than the big 8-footers, and shut some of them off completely
>when there's enough daylight.

Sounds good. Perhaps more efficient.

>I take it we're pretty much agreed that conventional skylights (as
>opposed to cleretories) leak, lose too much heat, and provide too much
>direct light in summer, yes?

No... At least not ones equipped with Zomeworks sunscoop reflectors.

Nick

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From: [email-masked] (Nick Pine)
Date: 14 Jun 1995 07:26:48 -0400

Robert Anderson <[email-masked]> wrote:
 
>...south-facing glass in clerestories is problematic, don't you think?

No... Or maybe yes, but the problems seem solvable.

>Yes, it does induce solar gain when needed, but strongly beamed
>light, hot spots and shadows, etc.

Seems like some diffuse reflection would help here.

>Give me north-facing clerestory lights any day, well-insulated in the north.

Less light that way, and not much solar heat gain. Net losers. Facing south,
perhaps with a reflective parabolic sunscoop that acts as a summertime
overhang, skylights could be net gainers in wintertime. (Although Norman
Saunders' house had some North-facing solar collectors, as an experiment...)

>Nice even sky illumation, predictable, diffuse....

Nature is somewhat unpredictable. Perhaps you could make the store lighting
more predictable by adding some flourescents that dim when daylight is
available, making a more constant illumination.

Nick