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Bringing daylight where the sun doesn't shine
You might expect to see daylighting systems installed in homes, schools and warehouses. But, how about in a 932,000 cubic foot retention tank buried 8 feet below ground? The city of Akron, Ohio discovered that thinking outside of the box (but inside the tank!) solved a persistent problem; how to get daylight into this massive underground storage tank which serves a combined sewer overflow system.
Previously installed lighting systems shorted and failed due to corrosion caused by moisture and noxious gasses, making it impossible for maintenance crews to clean the tank after use. Defeat led to a light bulb moment, and they now use 24 Solatube Daylighting Systems that have the ability to survive a toxic sewer environment.
And that’s not the only subterranean project where Solatube has helped out ...
How about lighting a tunnel?
As you might imagine, drilling through an entire mountain to install tubing might sound like an impossible undertaking — and quite frankly, impractical. Instead, a little innovation and ingenuity went into placing Solatube Daylighting Systems at the tunnel’s entrance to harvest daylight. Spectralight Infinity tubing then carries that light deep into the tunnel without a visible decrease in illumination levels, ensuring a better lit and safer tunnel for drivers.
Or an underground carpark?
Keeping with the underground theme, let’s talk parking garages. When you’re parked on lower level 3, it doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of the day or midnight, it’s dark down there! Who wouldn’t pick up their pace when walking through a dark cavern with just three working fluorescent lights?
By piping daylight in from the outside, making your way through dark, lower levels no longer feels like the start of a horror movie. You get high-quality daylighting and increased safety. For owners or managers of parking structures, it’s no-cost daytime lighting with near zero maintenance. That’s a win-win.
Whether you’re looking to install daylighting in your office, factory, or a secret bunker buried under your corporate headquarters, we have the innovation to help make it happen. No idea or application is too out of the box, or under it for that matter.
27 September 2016
