Natural light is one of nature’s best cure-alls. Having a sluggish day at your desk? Go outside for a quick walk for a jolt of energy. Need to wake up early and start the day with positivity? Open your shades so the sun’s natural rays will wake you up. Natural light has a myriad of benefits that can affect your mood as well as your wallet. Read on to see why it’s so important to let natural light into your home.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can make even the most positive, happy-go-lucky, and high-performing individuals depressed. Even in the summer months, if your home doesn’t let in natural light, it might as well be dark and gloomy winter.
Lack of light not only can alter one’s mood, but it has a direct correlation with mental health and wellbeing as well. Instead of buying a SAD lamp to mimic natural sunlight, put that money toward improving the natural light in your home instead to get real vitamin D. Your body and your mind will thank you.
Allowing more light into the home will also let you grow some indoor plants. Studies have shown that living with plants boosts overall mood, so let some light in with a large picture window or maybe even a garden window to house your plants.
Natural light has been proven to cause humans to wake up more quickly. So if you find yourself struggling to wake up in the morning, consider spending more time by the windows as part of your morning routine.
According to clinical psychologist Michael Breus and Well + Good, sunlight helps turn off what’s called the “melatonin faucet,” which in turn helps you avoid feeling groggy in the morning.
According to HomeLight, a company that matches sellers with agents who will get higher sale prices for their homes, buyers definitely have an interest in letting more natural light into their homes. Natural light represents a desirable feature of a home, and desired homes command higher sale prices.
In fact, neighborhood building height zoning laws exist in large part to prevent further construction of tall buildings that will block natural light. Building developers use a formula to calculate what’s called “Natural Light Pollution,” or NLP. There even exists an entire building development strategy called “daylighting” that maximizes natural light.
So, yes, homeowners consider the presence of natural light when purchasing a home.
According to an experiment conducted by the Energy Center of Wisconsin, artificial lighting accounts for ten percent of the home’s electrical consumption on average. You can save money on your electric bills by maximizing the amount of natural light in your home with windows. We’ve gathered some of the more useful data from this experiment below, and you can read a full recap of the report from Spark Energy. You can expect to save the following on your energy bills by maximizing natural lighting.
To give some context to the savings and stats: according to the US census bureau, the average size of a single-family home nationwide in 2018 comes in at 2,435 square feet.
|
Building Following Daylighting Principles |
Control Building |
Annual Savings for the Average Single-Family Home |
|
|
Lighting |
15¢/sq. ft |
22¢/sq. ft |
$170.45 (32%) |
|
Cooling |
14¢/sq. ft |
19¢/sq. ft |
$121.75 (25%) |
|
HVAC Fan Energy |
12.7¢/sq. ft |
13¢/sq. ft |
$7.30 (3%) |
|
Demand Charges |
41¢/sq. ft |
53¢/sq. ft |
$292.20 (24%) |
|
Total |
89¢/sq. ft |
$1.13/sq. ft |
$584.40 (22%) |
So how do you add more natural light to your home to save money and improve your mood?
Builders and Remodelers can install a variety of window styles and product lines that will fit your home, such as picture windows, garden windows, bay and bow windows, and more. View our window styles here to let more light into your home today.