You’re thinking of putting in a skylight. It could be a great idea! Or it could be a disaster. Let’s take a look at how skylights affect your home’s energy efficiency, both positively and negatively.
The Pros
Skylights can be great in winter. By letting in the sunlight, and the accompanying warmth, it can help you heat your home without relying on the furnace, thus saving energy. It’s also a great source of natural light, which is another great way to reduce your energy bill and improve efficiency by not relying on electricity to light rooms as often.
The Cons
While skylights might work in certain areas, in many ways Yuma isn’t ideally suited to them. The extra sunlight helps warm your house in winter, but it also comes through in summer. When the temperatures get above 100 degrees, it can make your home too warm. The energy efficiency that came from reducing your furnace usage is negated by how hard your A/C has to work.
The natural light is a mixed blessing too. On sunny days, the skylight can make your home too bright, to the point where you’re blinded when the sun shines directly on it. In Yuma, officially the sunniest place in the world, this can be a problem.
The Solution
You can reduce both unwanted heat and light by positioning your skylight strategically. If the skylight faces East, it gets direct sunlight in the morning. Facing West, it gets direct sunlight in the afternoon, as the sun sets. But if you position it facing North, you can still get a fair amount of natural light throughout the day, without the sun shining directly into your home. Likewise Facing South the heat is enough to increase your home’s overall warmth in the winter, but may not be so much to broil you in summer.
It’s also important to make sure your skylight is properly sealed and insulated, to maximize efficiency. This helps regulate temperature, holding the warmth in more effectively in winter, and keeping it out in summer.
For more tips on improving your home’s energy efficiency, contact us at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company. We provide Yuma with quality HVAC solutions.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 928-723-3183.
