Skylights offer many benefits. They provide natural lighting and ventilation to areas where windows wouldn’t fit. In today’s post, professional roofing contractor Empire Roofing & More shares a lesser-known benefit of skylights: making your home more eco-friendly.
Reduced Usage of Electrical Lighting
If parts of your home require electrical lighting in the middle of the day, you’re using too much power from the grid. While the apparent benefit of having skylights in this context is the energy savings, the underlying one is the fact that you won’t be using as much energy, which is generated using fossil fuels.
There are various types of window treatments that are especially designed for skylights, such as retractable shades and skylight covers. Also, if you have areas in your home where skylights won’t easily fit, consider having solar tubes or sun tunnels installed instead.
Improved Sustainability
Sustainable home improvements are expected to last longer than their standard counterparts. They are beneficial to the environment because they last longer, therefore it takes longer for these home improvements to require replacement. This, in turn, helps slow down the rate landfills get filled up. Sustainability is an important factor to consider, especially with major home improvements like siding and roofing.
While not as large in scale compared to roofing or siding, skylights can help improve your home’s sustainability. Less usage of electrical lighting means you’ll need fewer light bulbs, therefore less waste. Improved energy efficiency also helps reduce wear on your heating and cooling systems and lets you get more mileage out of them.
Passive Heating
Skylights can also provide passive heating during the winter season. Solar heat can pass through the glass, which serves as a natural source of heating. This may sound like a problem during the summer season, however, there are various types of window treatments that can help block heat from the sun while still letting natural light into your home. As described above, heating from sources other than your heating system helps reduce wear on the latter, contributing to a longer service life.
Empire Roofing & More is your leading provider of roofing services. Give us a call at (412) 999-7135 or (412) 414-1570. You can also fill out our contact form to schedule an appointment. We serve customers in Township and Pittsburgh, PA.
