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Daylighting to Save Electricity

Daylighting is the use of direct, diffuse, or reflected sunlight to provide supplemental lighting for building interiors. Effective daylighting is difficult to achieve as a retrofit to an existing house. Although skylights are an obvious approach, they often cause overheating in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Triangular "roof monitors," with vertical glazing, are a more energy-efficient approach.

You can also enhance your use of existing daylight through careful interior design. Bright interior colors help reflect daylight into the interior of the house. Desks, reading chairs, and dining room tables can be strategically located to best use the available light, but beware of glare problems if locating a computer in a daylit area.