Name: Solatube 

Address: 2210 Oak Ridge Way   City: Vista  State: California  

Employees: 800   Year Established: 1990 

CEO: David Rillie    Product: Lights

  Today, businesses seek effective ways to add radiant, natural light to a dark, drab interior. The result is a better work environment and lower energy costs.

  Solatube International Inc., based in Vista, Calif., recently introduced a  tubular skylight, the SolaMaster Series, to the commercial market. The new 21-inch unit is the first tubular skylight product to be ideally suited for use in commercial buildings.

  Solatube tubular skylights have been used in residential applications for more than a decade. Now the industry leader takes the unique benefits of the light tube to commercial buildings, such as offices, retail, warehouses, schools, and healthcare facilities. The 21-inch SolaMaster is the industry’s first tubular skylight specifically designed to fit the existing two-foot-by-two-foot drop ceiling grids in commercial buildings.

Cost savings                                                                          •Research by Pacific Gas & Electric Company found that interior lighting accounted for approximately 35 percent of total commercial electric sales. The Electric Power Research Institute put that figure as high as 40 percent when factoring in air conditioning to cool lighting loads. In short, lighting commercial buildings is an expensive business. Using natural lighting techniques – or daylighting – allows businesses to reap significant energy savings when using efficiently designed daylighting tools such as Solatubes.

  •Lockheed Martin reports that after daylighting its Sunnyvale, Calif. facility with Solatube, the company reaped annual energy savings of $500,000, plus higher worker productivity.

  •The U.S. Green Building council’s sustainable building technical manual indicates a well-designed daylighting can reduce lighting energy use by 50 to 80 percent.

Background                                                                                     The roots of Solatube International Inc., originator of the tubular skylight, had humble beginnings dating back to the 1980s and an Australian inventor. Working alone, the inventor struggled to bring his “brain child” to life. His innovative concept would change the way the world thought about skylights.

  At a time when poorly designed – and often leak-prone – traditional skylights had become the scorn of home and business owners, the inventor had a revolutionary idea: a compact, leak-proof and effective alternative.

  His concept involved a light-capturing system on the rooftop that redirected light down through a highly reflective cylinder to a diffuser at the ceiling level. The system would be simple to install without structural modifications and provide exceptional lighting.

  The next step was making it happen. In 1986, a patent was sought and four years later, Solatube Limited was established with a group of Sydney-based entrepreneurs, providing the marketing and manufacturing expertise necessary to launch the revolutionary product.

  The first Solatube® was sold in 1991 and sales that first year made the “light catcher” the best-selling skylight in Australia. Armed with the phenomenal success, the founders decided to bring the skylight to the North American market. In 1992, Solatube North America was established.

  By 1998, opportunities were escalating around the globe. The company was restructured and Solatube International Inc. was established to manage worldwide operations.

            The design of the SolaMaster Series allows it to bring the benefits of natural lighting to commercial spaces where traditional box skylights have rarely been an option. Because the unit fits into existing ceiling grids, SolaMaster can be used in almost any commercial setting and complements traditional light fixtures. The sealed design of the SolaMaster works like a dual glazed window to minimize heat loss or gain between the building’s interior and outdoor environments. The units install quickly without structural changes, mess or hassles. A single 21-inch Solatube provides up to 12,000 lumens and effectively illuminates up to a 400-square-foot area.