Published on November 14th, 2007 | by Stephanie Evans

Eco Lighting for the Home

New ideas and technologies for sustainable lighting are constantly burgeoning and it’s great when we can use them to brighten our inside spaces in an energy efficient and eco friendly way.

Here are three of the coolest new trends in eco home lighting:

Solar fiber optics collects daylight on roofs and channels it directly into buildings via optical fiber cables that illuminate light fixtures.

This lighting technology delivers cool and full spectrum sunlight without the energy loss associated with photovoltaics, which are only about 15% efficient, even without factoring in the large heat losses inherent in conventional lighting that range from about 3% efficiency for incandescent to 22% for the very best LEDs.
Solar fiber optics ingeniously solves daylighting problems in deep and windowless rooms.
This technology is currently not available for residential use but watch the market—it could be coming soon.

LED (light emitting diode) lighting is extremely compact, efficient, easy to dim, long lasting, and comes in a variety of colors. Technical barriers continue to fall as LED’s assume an ever-larger role in the range of strategies to reduce energy expenditures for artificial lighting.

OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology is on the horizon.

They provide bright crisp displays and use less power than LEDs or LCDs (liquid crystal displays).
The technology allows for extremely thin, even foldable displays, which makes sense because they are slated for use in computer monitor and television applications.

Read more of the nitty-gritty about OLEDs at HowStuffWorks

Recycled light fixtures make creative use of cast-offs and they’re popping up everywhere. Metals, glass, and other recycled materials make wonderful fixtures that are now available in a wide variety of styles to suit any design scheme.