Instead of using electricity to light your home, consider using daylight.
Adding sources of daylight will reduce your electricity needs during the day, which will lower your electricity bill.
Many people find daylight more pleasing than artificial light.
The addition of natural light usually affects people's moods positively.
Here are several different ways to get more daylight inside your home.
photo courtesy of Nicolas Giorgetti flickr.com/photos/la_hire/6534659413/Exterior Windows
Every home has windows, so take advantage of the light they let in.
Keep your window coverings open during the day to let the light inside your home.
Do not block the light coming in your home with overgrown plants or dirty window screens.
You can even get higher quality window screens that allow more light into your home and allow a less obstructed view out of your window.
If you rarely or never open your windows, consider removing the window screens completely.
To help keep the windows clean, consider using a water repelling solution such as Rain-X #ad on the exterior of your windows.
Make sure to hang your curtains so that they stack back on the wall beside your window and only a tiny bit covering only the edge of your window instead of hanging in front of your windows.
Interior Windows
You can add windows to a room that does not have an exterior wall.
The interior windows will allow natural light in from another room with exterior windows.
If you need visual privacy, add a transom window that is a horizontal rectangle towards the ceiling (often above a door).
Also consider using French doors that have glass instead of a solid material.
Skylights
Skylights have come a long way in the past few decades.
They were prone to leaking, so many people avoided using them.
Technology and construction methods have advanced to where leaking is no longer a major problem.
There are even skylights that electronically open to let out hot air and have sensors that automatically close if they get wet from rain.
Tubular Skylight
Another product that is relatively new to the market is tubular skylights #ad (also called sun pipes, solar tubes, light pipes, light tubes, solar light pipes, and daylight pipes).
These products bring light in a room from your roof through a metal pipe going through your attic.
The metal pipe can bend and turn going through your attic and still bring daylight into your home.
Solar tubes are lined with a highly reflective material and are usually about one foot in diameter.
One solar tube can light a 150 to 300 square foot room.
Some solar tubes come with an integrated light fixture to use at night, a nightlight, and/or a dimmer to eliminate or reduce the sunlight going into the room.
Solar tubes are a great idea for bringing natural light into rooms that do not have windows, such as a bathroom, closet, or home theater that is now being used for a different purpose.
They also work well for dark hallways or an entryway that always seems dark when entering your home.
Solar tube prices start around $150 at your local home improvement store and can be installed by a moderately skilled homeowner.
Door with Windows
To get more daylight inside your home, consider replacing some of your solid exterior doors with doors that have windows.
You can get a door that is mostly glass, a door that is half glass on the top, or a door that has a little window at the top.
The glass in your door can be clear to let in the most light or frosted to let in light while providing some privacy.
Since doors are so large, they offer an excellent opportunity to make the inside of your home less dark by adding daylight.
