Nanotechnology Applications for Solar Energy Systems

17 Nanotechnology in Solar Lighting

Chao Shen^*, Changyun Ruan^*, and Guoquan Lv

Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Architecture,Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China ^* Corresponding author

17.1 Optical Fiber Lighting Based on Sunlight

In recent years, many researchers have paid attention to intelligent energy and vigorously embarked on the research of renewable and low-cost energy sources. The keywords including low-carbon, environmental protection, energy conservation, and emission reduction are popular over the world [1–3]. The electricity consumption for lighting in China accounts for about 12% of the total power generation. For example, in 2013, the annual power generation was 5245.1 billion kW · h, and the annual lighting power consumption reached up to 629.4 billion kW · h [4]. More than 4 quads of energy are used to provide artificial lighting for buildings in the United States each year at a cost of about $40 billion. Lighting demand in spaces that lack light during the daytime is staggering and accounts for more than 50% of total lighting electricity consumption [5]. It has become a habit to turn on lamps to supplement lighting even if it is clear outdoors. Therefore, the introduction of sunlight into the room for lighting through devices has a huge potential for energy saving.

In addition, as a crucial part of the built environment, ...