Which Saves More Energy: LED Lighting Or Skylights?

One of the greatest priorities for homeowners today is cleaner, greener and more environmentally friendly living. Not only does a more environmentally conscious lifestyle help to preserve our environment for generations to come, it can also reduce the costs of living by decreasing energy and water bills. Environmentally friendly and energy saving lighting is an important part of this equation. We use the lighting in our homes and offices every day to provide essential illumination and ambience, and lighting represents around 20% of all energy use in commercial settings, and about 11% of energy usage at home. LED lights are becoming one of the most popular choices for energy efficient and innovative lighting technologies for both home and commercial settings. But what about the energy saving power of utilizing free natural daylight using skylights? Here we compare these two energy efficient lighting choices to help you determine the best choice for your home or business.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LED lighting is one of the most innovative and efficient forms of modern lighting, and a big step up from incandescent lighting in many aspects. LED globes are longer lasting, more durable, and provide equal if not better light quality than many other types of lighting. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that residential LEDs, especially ENERGY STAR rated products, use at least 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer, than incandescent lighting.

However, LED lighting still uses energy to function, and using electric lighting during the day when there is plenty of natural sunlight available is not necessarily the most energy efficient choice.

Skylights

Skylights provide an excellent source of natural sunlight indoors, which in turn helps to reduce use of electric lighting while providing a free and plentiful source of natural light. Tube skylights are a highly functional form of daylighting, because these solar tubes filter out harsh UV rays and excess heat for a safer and more comfortable sunlight source. Solar light tubes also optimize the sunlight available for use indoors, increasing the available light in low sunlight areas, and filtering brightness during hot summers.

However, there’s one problem with this free, natural source of light — it’s only available during the daytime.

Transitional Lighting

Transitional lighting combines the benefits of utilizing skylights in the daytime when sunlight is plentiful, and using LEDs when sunlight is reduced or unavailable, by combining both of these technologies into one apparatus. Transitional lighting lets you to ‘transition’ from one sustainable light source to another, allowing you to make the most appropriate choice for your conditions while providing maximal light output. Transitional lighting consists of a tube skylight that is also fitted with LED bulbs. This allows the light tube to function as a skylight during the day, and as a LED lighting fixture during the evening or other low light times.

Transitional lighting makes it easy to use natural daylight when it is available, and using the most energy efficient source of lighting in the evening with built-in LED globes, providing energy efficient lighting for both day and night.

With LED lighting and tube skylights providing some of the most energy efficient lighting available, combining both of these in a transitional lighting approach could be the most energy efficient lighting solution for your home or business.