I’m still working in the CIS tower, which now has a big display in the foyer telling us how much power the solar panels have generated and what that means in saved CO2. However, every floor has row upon row of flourescent tubes lighting it. Direct sunlight, on the rare days we get any, is blocked by blinds because it tends to shine in the eyes of those facing the windows.

Perhaps the Co-op can take another step in energy saving and have a few solar collectors on the roof, such as those by Solartech, which use parabolic mirrors to direct light into light tubes that can illuminate thousands of square feet of office space. The company needs further funding to bring their products to market. They estimate twenty times greater efficiency than converting light to power and then back again and say a system could pay for itself within two years.

via Treehugger

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