A skylight on steroids – with a brain

LOVELAND – Soft light pours into a warehouse where workers at Lightning Hybrids LLC turn wrenches below a truck resting on a lift.

The light distributed throughout the warehouse isn’t the typical fluorescent or even incandescent light that Northern Colorado workers are used to. It is natural light, distributed by two units that sit atop the warehouse on Second Street Southwest.

Manufactured by Boulder-based Sundolier Inc., the units have motors that allow them to track the sun, capture the light and focus it into a room. With their sharp metallic features, they look as if they could be mounted atop a spaceship.

Lightning Hybrids president Tim Reeser hopes the natural lighting will boost productivity among his workers. The building has no windows, so “having daylight in the building is really a marvelous thing,” said Reeser, who also is an investor in Sundolier.

Peter Novak, chief executive of Sundolier, said his systems will help Lightning Hybrids get there.

Sundolier’s technology will come into play as more people build structures that follow green building standards, which require some use of natural light, Novak said. The startup has installed 22 of the units in four countries.

Sundolier’s units take up a two-foot area on Lightning Hybrids’ roof, partially sitting above the roof with the other octagonal-shaped half hanging inside from the ceiling like a futuristic chandelier. Unlike a skylight, Sundolier’s units spread light evenly throughout a room. Lightning Hybrid paid $4.60 per square foot for the system, which cost a total of $36,800.

“We call it a skylight on steroids with a brain,” Novak said.

Natural light represented the main source of light in commercial buildings before the 1940s. Commercial buildings now consume nearly one third of U.S. electricity, with a third of that amount going to lighting, according to an analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

However, unlike natural light, incandescent and fluorescent lighting does not contain the blue portion of the color spectrum, “the most important part for humans,” according to the analysis. Natural light, which includes full-spectrum lighting, can lead to “improved mood, enhanced morale, lower fatigue and reduced eyestrain.”

Sundolier recommends that manufacturers install one unit per 2,000 square feet, although it installed two in Lightning Hybrids’ 8,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Some people complain that the systems don’t provide enough light when clouds block the sun, Novak said. Lightning Hybrids supplements the units with artificial lighting from the ceiling. Workers also use individual lighting as they work underneath vehicles.

Novak said Sundolier’s units are designed to follow natural fluctuations in sunlight. This natural light also encourages natural sleep patterns, he said, and offers relief for employees who get headaches from fluorescent lighting.

Indeed, different wavelengths of light affect human body functions, ranging from the nervous system to circadian rhythms, according to the NREL analysis, citing natural lighting studies. Prolonged exposure to cool white fluorescent lights may even cause abnormal circadian rhythms.

“Occupants in day-lit and full-spectrum office buildings reported an increase in general well being,” the analysis said, noting that specific benefits include better health, increased productivity and reduced absenteeism.

Natural light, for example, increases attention and alertness during the “post-lunch dip.” In 1983, Lockheed Martin boosted productivity by 15 percent when the aerospace company used an open office layout with natural lighting.

But it’s not all about productivity for Lightning Hybrids, which also will save on electricity costs with the use of more natural lighting.

“This gave us another way to be different,” Reeser said.

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