Harnessing Sunlight Indoors for Sustainable Gardening

[shadowofman]

I am aware that fiber optic cable can channel sunlight indoors. Is there any sort of end point which could throw the light out in all directions?

Maybe a substance in the center of a room that if you redirect sunlight onto it via a mirror, the light would scatter and fill the room?

And in any case, is the wave length effected at all?

My interest is in sustainable indoor gardening, using the sun rather than lamps.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Why not just put a diffuser/lens on the end of the fiber? How omnidirectional does it need to be?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I think there is a more fundamental question - how is he going to collect enough light in the first place? If you want a square meter's worth of sunlight on the insider, you need at least a square meter on the outside.

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

Why not just direct the fiber on a white screen on the ceiling? The reflected light will scatter as much you would want it to.

All that is left to do is optimizing the quality of the diffusing screen. But a regular projector screen, or typical white paint may well be sufficient for practical purposes.

Just direct the fiber light on a white-painted top corner of the room (wall-wall-ceiling junction).

 

[shadowofman]

Fair enough, white walls are good to light a room. I'm thinking more along the lines of green walls of plants, and a light source in the center.

This can obviously be done with grow lamps. I'm envisioning a channel of mirror reflected sunlight hitting a crystal ball in the center of a room and throwing light in all directions.

 

[Sakha]

I think there is a more fundamental question - how is he going to collect enough light in the first place? If you want a square meter's worth of sunlight on the insider, you need at least a square meter on the outside.

Fresnel lenses maybe?
That would still require the same amount of space, but maybe its more comfortable for him using the space outside instead of windows.

 

[schip666!]

You might check these guys out... very annoying website but the product is pretty great:
http://www.solatube.com/

 

[Andy Resnick]

I think there is a more fundamental question - how is he going to collect enough light in the first place? If you want a square meter's worth of sunlight on the insider, you need at least a square meter on the outside.

There are products that do this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube

but for (ahem) growing plants indoors, it's horribly inefficient.