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TECHNOLOGY FIBER OPTICS GO TO SCHOOL Sunshine enlightens academy classroom FREDERICKSBURG ACADEMY FACTS
Innovative light shines at Fredericksburg Academy
Date published: 7/21/2007
By RUSTY DENNEN
The room on the second floor of Fredericksburg Academy's Arts and Sciences Building looks much like any other classroom.
Except for the light fixtures dangling from the ceiling, which emit a pure, natural light.
When teachers and students return in late August, they'll step into one of only a handful of buildings in the country with the hybrid solar lighting system.
It consumes no electricity, and because it produces no heat, drastically cuts air-conditioning costs. And studies have shown that natural light is easier on the eyes of students who are reading, writing or using laptop computers.
"This is free light from the sun," Matthew Dawson, the academy's director of development, said during a demonstration of the system earlier this week.
The technology was developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and is being adapted for commercial use by Sunlight Direct.
The Oak Ridge-based company installed the system, which is still being refined, in the spring.
Though it's decidedly high-tech, the principle is simple.
A 48-inch diameter dish on the roof collects sunlight, concentrating it on a glass lens connected to a bundle of fiber-optic cables.
The cables carry the light to ceiling panels and cables, which illuminate the room.
The dish is programmed to follow the sun through the sky during the course of the day. Backup fluorescent lights can be used at night, or to supplement the Sunlight Direct system.
Founded in 2004, Sunlight Direct is one of the companies on the cutting edge of hybrid-solar technology.
There are many potential applications.
"One is hybrid solar lighting for growing things indoors such as algae for biodiesel, and concentrated photovoltaics" for producing energy, said John Morris, the company's president and chief executive officer.
Because the products are still in the development and testing phase, they are expensive.
The Fredericksburg Academy system cost about $20,000 for the equipment and installation.
But Morris says the cost will come down as as production and technology are refined.
"We anticipate that within two years it would be half that price," he said.
Sunlight Direct has installed 23 solar lighting units across the country.
There have been a few bugs to work out. The receiver and lens on the dish at Fredericksburg Academy malfunctioned and had to be retooled. Now they work properly.
Morris said the company hopes to install more of its lighting systems soon.
"We are looking at a project in Tennessee to put one in every school in the state."
Fredericksburg Academy had a lot of help. Richard Harrison purchased the system to help the school become more environmentally conscious, and as a learning tool.
Richard and Susan Harrison have three children attending the academy.
| Fredericksburg Academy is an independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory day school, founded in 1992.
The school has about 550 students, in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade on 50 acres off Academy Drive in Spotsylvania County.
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Date published: 7/21/2007
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