Solatube recently announced upgrades to two models of their tubular daylighting devices (tubular skylights).  The upgrades qualify their products for a 30% Federal Tax Credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The two qualifying products are the 160DSe and the 290DSe.  Both are improvements upon the 160DS (the one I installed in my home), and the 290DS.

Solatube is the first company with tubular daylighting devices that exceed low Solar Heat Gain Coefficients (SHGC), and U-Factor ratings specified in the federal Act.     This is why their products qualify for the Federal tax credit!

What are SHGC and U-Factor you ask?  These ratings come from the National Fenestration Rating Council. We demystify both terms in detail for you in a previous article here on GetWithGreen.  Essentially, a low Solar Heat Gain Coefficient means that your window or tubular device will block heat from sunlight.  A low U-Factor means that heat has a difficult time escaping.  These ratings matter to you because the tube from these skylights runs through your attic.  You want to prevent as much heat from coming in during the summer, and limit the amount of heat lost during the winter.    The lower these ratings, the less your attic heats, the more energy you save!

We have much more information on tubular skylight or daylighting systems here on GetWithGreen.com.  Read this related article:

See more on Daylighting Systems from GetWithGreen.com

For those of you striving for LEED certification in your remodel, tubular daylighting products/skylights also satisfy the daylighting credit of the certification process.

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Earlier this Summer, GetWithGreen.com selected a Solatube Model 160 DS Daylighting System for a residential hallway installation. A daylighting system was selected because a dimly lit hallway constantly required energy consumption for lighting — even during daytime hours.

Solatube was selected by GetWithGreen.com because of the sheer amount of clear information on the company’s and reseller’s website, and because it was so easy to find the product locally. It’s now time to update you on the install, and our final opinion of this specific daylighting system.

The Solatube 160 DS installation was a snap. Our GetWithGreen.com contractor installed the daylighting system within 90 minutes, and if you use a Solatube dealer this time could likely fall well below an hour! Our installation did require the wiring of electricity to the daylighting system, so that it could be used during the night as a light as well.

So what happened to the once dark hallway?? The hallway is now brilliantly bright during the day, and often glowing with moonlight in the evenings. GetWithGreen.com did use both a diffuser AND a softening lense for the installation because the light coming through the Solatube was too bright at first!! In addition the light was very white, and not as soft as a traditional incandescent bulb. The diffuser and the softening lenses took care of this. (Special thanks to Marjorie at Sunlight Concepts for allowing GetWithGreen to sample the various diffusers and softening lenses!) Should you still want to tone down the light, or perhaps change the color of the light, you might be able to use a colored gel to further alter the color and mood of your daylighting system — but this has not been confirmed by Solatube.

It does take time to get used to a new daylighting system. For weeks following your daylighting system install you will reach for a light switch because you will think a light has been left on!! You may also feel it is too bright, but we urge you to give it a few weeks. You will grow accustomed and fall further in love with your free and environmentally friendly light source.

GetWithGreen.com gives daylighting systems two green thumbs up!! In our opinion, the Solatube daylighting system performs beyond expectations, and Marjorie at Sunlight Concepts (our dealer) was amazing to work with. If you are considering one of these systems, GetWithGreen.com urges you to take the plunge. If you haven’t considered a daylighting system before, then take note and check out these incredibly eco-friendly products for lighting your home!!!

Read more about Daylighting Systems on GetWithGreen.com.

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GetWithGreen.com set out last week to purchase a tubular skylight. We needed a tubular skylight for a remodel we are doing, and we chose a tubular daylight device because we wanted to reduce the need for electricity to light a hallway.

Using the list of tubular skylight manufacturers GetWithGreen compiled last year, we selected Solatube. Solatube was selected solely because their website provided the most complete information about tubular daylight device. After a great introductory conversation with Marjorie Clark at Sunlight Concepts, Inc. (Solatube reseller and installer), we decided to drive down and make our purchase.

There are many options when purchasing a tubular daylight device. Here are the items you will need to consider:

1. How much space are you attempting to light? The Solatube products come in a 10″ diameter (Model 160 DS) and a 14″ diameter (Model 290 DS). Tricky in their naming, the 160 DS means that it lights roughly 160-200 square feet, and 290 DS means it provides coverage for 300 square feet. For our hallway we decided that a 10″ skylight would fit the bill. The 160 DS retails for $350, and the 290 DS for $450. Your contractor will likely receive a discount on these products.
2. Light or No Light. Solatube sells an optional electrical light fixture that installs inside the skylight for night-time use. This is a really nice option if you are installing the light in a hallway or closet. Since a tubular daylight device looks just like a recessed light when installed, we found this to be a great option! We purchased one. Depending on which one you want, the price ranges from $99-125 MSRP.
3. Diffuser Type. Each product comes with a standard diffuser. A diffuser is the lens that you see when you look up at your skylight. Each diffuser offers a different type of light. Make sure the showroom you visit has different installations so you can see the differences. The standard diffuser was very appealing. Marjorie let us borrow the optional OptiView diffuser so that we can test it after our install. The OptiView delivers a bright light, and will also let off a prism effect on your wall in some cases. We urge you to ask your retailer to borrow the different types.
4. Softening Lens. Once the diffuser is installed, you can purchase an optional softening lens that changes the color of the light. Once again, Marjorie was awesome, and she let us borrow a few different types…three different ones to be exact. They are very easy to swap out once your daylight device is installed. Again, ask your retailer to let you borrow a few to test out. If you decide to purchase they can cost you $15+.
5. Tubing. Your Solatube Daylighting System will come standard with 4 ft of tubing that pipes the light from the roof to the installed “light” in your ceiling. Our installation required 8 ft, so we purchase two 24″ extensions which cost us $21.11 each. The extension allow us to make a slight angle in our way to the roof as well. NOTE: the product also include flashing for the roof. The flashing included pre-drilled holes which we thought was a nice touch.
6. Other. Are you going to install the skylight yourself? The team at Sunlight Concepts charges $250 for installation. Some towns require a permit for installing a product like this.

Check back with us in a week or so, and we’ll let you know how our installation goes. For those of you in the San Jose, CA area, stop in and see Marjorie at Sunlight Concepts. She has all the various products installed in the showroom, and she is super friendly and an absolute pleasure to work with!

See more on Daylighting Systems from GetWithGreen.com

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Skylights are likely something you are considering during your remodel.    Skylights enable you to turn on fewer lights during the day, and offer natural lighting (“daylighting”) to your home.  There are a host of solution providers that offer “tubular skylights” or what are now called “daylighting systems” for home remodeling situations where space is an issue, or perhaps there is considerable distance between your roof and the point where you want the light (e.g. a tall attic).  For this situation, a tubular skylight is ideal to “pipe” in natural lighting.

A daylighing system/tubular skylight is composed of three parts: an acrylic rooftop dome and flashing, a reflective light pipe, and an interior diffuser (images below from ODL, Inc.). With most of these products, the reflective tube can bend around obstructions, or connect nonaligned roof and ceiling penetrations. Some products include other features such as compact-fluorescent lights or ventilation fans.

Below is a list of manufacturers.  If you have experience with any of them please leave a Comment for GetWithGreen readers!

Solatube International, Inc. - Brighten Up Series or SolaMaster Series

HUVCO, Daylighting Solutions - offer an online tool to configure a skylight

ODL, Inc. – ODL Tubular Skylights 

Velux - Sun Tunnel Tubular Skylights

DayLite, Natural Lighting Technologies - DayLite Tube

Daylighting Technologies – Sun-Dome Tubular Skylights

Sun-Tek Manufacturing – Sun-Tek Tubular Skylights

Sun Pipe Co., Inc. – Sun Pipe Tubular Skylights

Sunscope Natural Lighting Systems – Sunscope Tubular Skylights

True Lite Skylights, Inc.

Tubular Skylight, Inc.

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