Hybrid Solar Lighting–pulls natural sunlight inside

Hybrid solar lighting (HSL) is different than traditional solar power, which converts sunlight into electricity. HSL captures sunlight and channels it directly into a room, using optical fibers.

“Our idea was: let’s just pipe the sunlight into the building,” said Duncan Earl, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

If used in a top-floor of a building, HSL can deliver 50 percent of collected sunlight as indoor lighting, Earl told LiveScience in a telephone interview.This is far more efficient than photovoltaic cells, which convert about 15 percent of sunlight into electricity and then have to change this electricity back into light.

Besides the more direct use of sunlight, HSL light fixtures generate less heat than conventional bulbs, which can mean less energy spent on air conditioning.

MSNBC