Passive Solar

Skylights don’t just look great, they’re good for the planet!

Home heating costs contribute 8% of the carbon pollution in industrialized nations! That’s a lot of carbon footprint, second only to cars and the trucking industry. The good news is innovative technologies and research are helping homeowners do their own part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. The even better news is that you don’t have to wait for miracle solutions to come along, there are small things you can do right now to reduce your own carbon footprint and save you money in the process.

Obviously, skylights provide natural light for your home, decreasing your overall energy costs. Both traditional skylights and tubular skylights are an excellent way to lighten up the dark places in your home and reduce the need to “flip the switch”.

But there’s better news! New research into Passive Solar Heating indicates that installing traditional skylights in your home reduces your need to tap into fossil fuels to heat your home. Here in the mountain west, Passive Solar Heating can’t take over for our traditional heating methods, but it can cut heating costs.

What’s Passive Solar Heating?

Passive Solar Heating is that warm feeling you get when you stand next to a sunny window. When skylights are installed on the south-facing side of a roof, you can take advantage of the heat exchange which comes from those sun-filled windows, particularly in Colorado where we are blessed with plenty of sunshine even in the winter. Homeowners can take advantage of this heat gain even further with the installation of a simple ceiling fan.

Won’t this make my house too warm in the summer?

While it’s true that heat will continue to accumulate in the summer, Heinsight Solutions offers several options to manage interior climate controls. We offer solar-powered and manual venting skylights which can be used to allow extra summer heat to escape from the home. The solar-powered skylights can be activated using a remote control or the Velux Active System phone app. With this wonderful and handy app, you can program your skylights to vent or close at certain hours of the day or when the exterior temperature and weather and interior conditions warrant. They have an acoustic rain sensor that will automatically close the skylight when it rains and a venting feature to release heat when needed. You can also operate your skylights from anywhere that you have phone or internet service.

Another excellent feature of our Velux Skylights is the factory installed blind options. Solar blinds can be activated using the same remote control or Active System app to open and close as needed and can be programmed to close during the hottest time of the day. We offer two styles—light filtering blinds that allow some light to enter the room even when closed, which is great for a kitchen, laundry room, or bathroom, and room darkening blinds that block out approximately 90% of the sunlight and are perfect for bedrooms and living rooms where the light interferes with sleep or casts a glare on your TV or computer monitor. The blinds come in over 100 style and color choices so you can customize their look to match your home décor. See your style options here: https://www.veluxusa.com/products/blinds

What else can I do to reduce my carbon footprint?

Heinsight Solutions is a company dedicated to providing low-cost energy saving products and services. We offer attic insulation which helps keep the attic space cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter and having us insulate the area during a skylight or Sun Tunnel installation is an easy way to reduce heat gain and loss.

The Little Green Machine solar attic vent is one more item in our energy saving toolbox. This is a simple to install, low-cost way to help release the build-up of hot air inside the attic during hot weather. Utilizing solar power instead of electricity, this handy addition can not only save on cooling costs, but it costs nothing to run thanks to its self-contained solar panel.

Solar Night Lights are installed inside the tubular Sun Tunnel skylights. These handy lights collect energy during the day and turn on automatically once the sun sets to provide low light, which is great for bathrooms and hallways.

Are there any incentives for installing skylights or Sun Tunnels?

The federal government offers homeowners a 26% tax credit for all solar products through the end of 2022. This means that the tax credit applies to the entire installation including labor, not just for the product itself. Provided the homeowner lives in the home for at least 50% of the year, and the product includes a solar energy feature, you can claim this credit at the end of the year. Heinsight Solutions provides you with all the necessary paperwork needed for your end of the year tax filing process. Installing Skylights and other energy saving products in your home is a win-win win—the environment through reduction of heating costs, savings in electric lighting needs, and the satisfaction of having contributed to the reduction of carbon emissions while being able to enjoy the excellent views, added daylight, and aesthetic beauty of new skylights or Sun Tunnels.