Hybrid Solar Lighting Promises 50% Efficiency

[jpak]

http://www.renewableaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=48933

While hybrid solar lighting technology is still in its infancy compared to solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal, the technology is slowly gaining recognition as a legitimate contender in the race to become a commercially viable technology. Set to enter the U.S. market in 2008, the hybrid technology recently earned the Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer.

The award is presented to federal laboratory employees for outstanding work in the process of transferring a technology to the commercial marketplace. In this case, the award recognized a team of researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

The Oak-Ridge developed hybrid solar lighting (HSL) technology uses a rooftop-mounted 48-inch diameter collector and secondary mirror that tracks the sun throughout the day. The collector system focuses the sunlight into 127 optical fibers connected to special light fixtures equipped with diffusion rods similar to fluorescent light bulbs. The rods spread light in all directions.

One collector currently powers 8 to 10 hybrid light fixtures that can illuminate about 1,000 square feet of space. During times of little or no sunlight, a sensor controls the intensity of fluorescent lamps to maintain a constant level of illumination.

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[kestrel91316]

1. Oh, my - this sounds like a VERY good development.