Four Ways That Installing Skylights Can Benefit the Environment
Skylights are a stylish and modern method of letting more light into your home, but you may not have considered their environmental impact. Fortunately, there are some very sound reasons why installing skylights can be good for the environment.
For one thing, they allow more natural light into your home. This has an obvious effect on your energy usage—you will not need as much artificial light, which means you will not use as much electricity. Careful positioning of a skylight can light up an otherwise dark room and will make artificial light unnecessary during the daytime. Any reduction in your energy bills will also result in a lower carbon footprint.
More natural light will also lead to a healthier home. It is known that people's moods and outlook tend to improve in natural light, and this can have a good effect on their physical health. Skylights will also make it easier to keep house plants in your home. This improvement in mental and physical health can reduce the consumption of medicines and drugs, whose production and disposal can have toxic effects on the environment.
The third advantage of skylights is that they can reduce your cooling expenses. If your house tends to get too hot, you can install ventilated skylights that can be opened to let the heat out and the cooler air in. This can take a lot of the strain off your air conditioning system and lessen your energy usage, once again reducing both your bills and your impact on the environment. Some skylights can even be set to open and close automatically according to the weather conditions, thanks to a small solar panel and a rain sensor.
Finally, it is worth remembering that skylights can help insulate your home. They will typically be double-glazed but can even be triple-glazed, which will help to prevent heat from escaping your home. They can also be made of solar glass, which will have the same effect—it will let the light through but not the heat so that your home will stay cooler in summer and warmer in winter. This will once again reduce your usage of heating or cooling systems, and lower your carbon footprint.
These reasons make it clear that skylights can improve the natural function of your home and have a clear environmental benefit. Talk to a roofer today to find out more information on how to install skylights.