Medusa

Daylighting Saves Energy At Home And At Work

<h2><strong>The Power of Daylight<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Daylight Saving Time&colon; The process of winding back the clock to better reflect the hours in which sunlight makes the use of powered light sources unnecessary&period; The practice started in World War I as an effort to conserve valuable coal required for the war effort&comma; and was reintroduced in World War II&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter" style&equals;"width&colon; auto&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;myblogguest&period;com&sol;forum&sol;uploads&sol;articles&sol;2013&sol;6&sol;sunrays&lowbar;beaming&lowbar;down&lowbar;through&lowbar;a&lowbar;lightly&lowbar;cloudy&lowbar;sky&period;jpg" width&equals;"325" height&equals;"325" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The practice was never popular in the US&period; It was viewed as a necessary measure for wartime&comma; but with no justification in peace time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the 1973 OPEC oil embargo prompted a two-year period of daylight savings during which the US Department of Transportation conducted a more thorough study of its benefits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They found that it conserved 10&comma;000 barrels of oil per day in March and April&comma; and statistics even indicated a reduction in crime and traffic accidents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It seems intuitive to suppose that making the most of daylight results in conservation of energy&comma; but this study illustrated just how beneficial it can be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>Conserving Energy<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Today&comma; energy conservation is a preeminent issue&comma; as evidenced by the push for renewable energy sources and more energy-efficient methods of conducting business and industry&period; Energy and carbon taxes provide businesses with incentives to promote energy conservation&comma; as they will feel the financial ramifications of using excess energy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In light of this&comma; the role that building design plays in conserving energy is receiving greater attention&period; Buildings are being designed to maximise sunlight to better illuminate the work space&comma; which results in conservation of energy that would otherwise have been required for electric lighting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One way this can be achieved is by incorporating more windows and skylights into building design&comma; and ensuring they are well positioned to provide maximum illumination&period; According to the US Department of Energy&comma; this can cut the use of electrical lighting by around 75&percnt; – 80&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sunlight is&comma; after all&comma; free&period; Unlike electric lights which rack up costs based on usage&comma; skylights help to channel a free source of light&comma; meaning that the only costs will be for installation and maintenance&period; This once-off fee can result in significant cost-savings in heat and energy usage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are other less obvious ways in which skylights contribute to energy conservation&period; Eighty per cent of the power generated by electric lights is converted into heat&period; A building that uses skylights significantly reduces heat generation&comma; resulting in less energy required to power air conditioning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>Making Industry Aware of the Benefits<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Industrial areas&comma; factories&comma; and warehouses often leave electric lights running constantly due to the poor visibility in certain parts of the building&comma; even during daylight hours&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A large part of the issue arises from the fact that production facilities are designed with electric lighting in mind&comma; and that has been the case ever since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb&period; As a result&comma; about 5&percnt; of electricity usage in the USA goes towards powering the lights to illuminate commercial and industrial sites&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As with most things&comma; it takes a while for people to adapt to new technological advancements&comma; but the industrial sector needs to be made aware of the financial and environmental benefits of energy conservation benefits before they&&num;8217&semi;ll have the incentive to change old habits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Motivation to do so will be even greater when they realize what benefits daylighting has to offer&comma; not just in the areas of energy conservation and cost-cutting&comma; but in productivity as well&period; Studies have shown that people work more efficiently and more productively when they are exposed to sunlight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado found that daylighting increase productivity and reduce absenteeism by about 15&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So&comma; sunlight serves to power the work effort in more ways than one&comma; increasing human energy at the same time as it conserves electrical energy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5>Featured images&colon;<&sol;h5>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"license">License&colon; Royalty Free or iStock<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"source">source&colon; http&colon;&sol;&sol;office&period;microsoft&period;com&sol;en-za&sol;images&sol;results&period;aspx&quest;qu&equals;sunlight&amp&semi;ex&equals;2&num;ai&colon;MP900424387&vert;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Matthew Flax advocates eco-friendly living so that we can all lessen our carbon footprint&comma; something which is even more important in business and industry&period; You can benefit from energy saving skylights from Gauteng manufacturers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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