Overview
Artificial lighting accounts for the largest component of electricity use in commercial
U.S. buildings. Hybrid solar lighting provides an exciting new means of reducing
energy consumption while also delivering significant benefits associated with natural
lighting in commercial buildings. Hybrid solar lighting contributes to meeting the
requirements set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for renewable energy consumption
by the federal government to be not less than 3% in FY 2007–2009, 5% in
FY 2010–2012, and 7.5% in 2013 and thereafter.
The hybrid lighting technology was originally developed for fluorescent lighting
applications but recently has been enhanced to work with incandescent accent-lighting
sources, such as the parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR) lamps commonly used
in retail spaces. Commercial building owners—specifically retailers—use the lowefficiency
PAR lamps because of their desirable optical properties and positive impact
on sales. Yet the use of this inefficient lighting results in some retailers’ spending
55–70% of their energy budgets on lighting and lighting-related energy costs