Swedish company Parans has found a way to collect sunlight by panels in over 500 lenses, transmit it through fibre-optic cables and illuminate light-deprived interiors. In each room, the sunlight flows out through specially designed luminaires.
ParansÂ’ luminaires give a mixture of parallel light beams and ambient light, just as when the sun strikes through the foliage of a forest. The system allows you to tell the weather even without windows or skylights, re-establishing a connection with the outside environment.
I don't beleive it! I've being asking around trying to ascertain the viabliity of this as a project for a while now. Oh well, at least somebody's on the case!
This is basically "piping light" and this isn't the first I heard of it, there was even a report of a Japanese company doing it in Toyota a decade+ ago, so what makes this unique?
Posted by: Jason on April 18, 2005 10:32 AM
The SunPipe has been around a while http://www.sunpipe.com/and is a simple, excellent idea--I've seen one in action illuminating a basement kitchen. This fiber optic idea is a different animal-- higher tech, for better or worse, more flexible, way more chic, and I would think much higher cost. The advantage is that architects can send light through the walls with the wiring rather than having to accommodate a pipe.
Posted by: Jeff Rusch on April 18, 2005 2:06 PM
I saw a cooler application of these by an Israeli company. Rather than diffuse the light at the other end, they left it highly concentrated. Result: Sun-powered laser powerful enough to do surgery with. It's used in hospitals in Israel, which only have a few cloudy days/ year.
worldchanging was founded on the idea that real solutions already exist for building the future we want. it's just a matter of grabbing hold and getting moving.
Swedish company Parans has found a way to collect sunlight by panels in over 500 lenses, transmit it through fibre-optic cables and illuminate light-deprived interiors. In each room, the sunlight flows out through specially designed luminaires.
