How to most effectively light up a classroom?

An investigation of the use of solar tubes to reduce energy usage in school.

Judge’s overall comment:

The group drew on secondary sources and used these to produce a very detailed background
brief. This brief directly informed the research design.
The design includes a good representative number of test subjects. The practical and
experimental work presented challenges which were overcome through a sensible approach to
design changes.
The data were collected accurately and compared to the requirements of the research design to
ensure the brief was fulfilled. These aspects indicate good developing skills in scientific research.
The students chose a topic directly relevant to their immediate environment. From their research
they recognised both the limitations of their conclusions for wider applications and the areas
where these conclusions would be useful.

Background research
Through this investigation we wanted to find a way to reduce the energy usage in our school. The
reason it’s good to reduce energy consumption is that the electricity used to power the lamps could
be used for something else and when the electricity was made in power stations greenhouse gases
like carbon dioxide were produced. The more electricity needed and produced the more greenhouse
gases. Greenhouse gases are the cause of global warming and the changes to the world’s climate
and ecosystems.

We had noticed that many classrooms had all the lights on in the classroom even when it was bright
and sunny outside and/or when they were not in the room (We found this information out from giving
a survey to some teachers in the school). All of the lights in the classroom switch on with the same
switch, this means that when just a little bit of extra light is needed in addition to the sun coming from
the windows, all the lights are switched on and energy is wasted.

Electricity costs could be reduced by making sure the lights are turned off when the room is empty
and by only turning on the amount of lights needed at that time. However this would only reduce
costs slightly and we wanted a better solution. We researched ways of using natural sunlight as a
way to light up a room and found solar tubes, which are reflective tubes that guide the sunlight into a
room from the roof and disperses it into the room. So why not save energy and money by replacing
the lights in the classroom with solar tubes which are: simple, effective, free once installed, using
natural light instantly and no electricity (1).

Another option using the sun’s energy would be to install solar panels which would produce their own
electricity to power the lights in the room and therefore reducing the electricity bills. However they
would be too expensive to install at the school.

In 2019, the average national solar panel cost was $3.05/watt in the USA. The average solar panel
system size in the U.S is approximately 6 kilowatts (kW), therefore an average solar panel system
would cost $12,810 after tax credits. In the school it would of course be a much higher cost. However
to install a solar tube would only cost $500 - $1000 (2) if installed professionally or $200 -
$400 (2) if installed by yourself.

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Solar tubes would be like the lamps in the ceiling of the room (replacing them), making the room
brighter during the day when the light coming in through the windows would not be enough to light up
the room. A 25.4 cm in diameter solar tube is the equivalent of 3 100 watt bulbs and it is enough to
light up 18.6 m2 of floor area and a 35.6 cm in diameter solar tube can light up 27.9 m2 of floor area
(3).

However there are also days like in winter when either the sun is only out for a few hours in the
middle of the day or it is very cloudy and dark outside. The idea of using instant sunlight and solar
tubes to light up the room would on the other hand not work when it is dark outside or no sunlight.
However the hours of sunlight in Sweden during the winter is during the hours that we are in school.

After deciding that solar tubes were the solution we researched their impacts on the environment and
how they work. Solar tubes are essentially a reflective tube through which light enters and reflects off
the sides down into a room. They have a disperser on the end to distribute the light evenly
throughout the room you wish to light up. We then decided to do an investigation on the most
efficient arrangement of solar tubes in the classroom. To do this we designed solar tubes with
different radii and conducted an experiment on the light intensity of our scaled down proportionate
classroom (we made the classroom without windows so that we could make sure it worked in a place
like for example a warehouse which has no windows) to see how to maximise their effect. The
question we want to answer with our investigation is: “How to most effectively light up a classroom?”

We wanted to do a project benefiting the environment as right now the planet and the environment
really needs our help. Solar tubes are a great invention and should definitely be used more as they
don’t use any electricity made in power stations and they work just as great as lamps. Here in
Sweden climate changes are already beginning to show. For example in the south of Sweden due to
rising sea levels, areas such as Falsterbo, Höllviken and Skanör are at risk of going under water and
being flooded by big waves (4) (5). In addition to this threat there is also the risk of droughts like the
one in Sweden (6) last summer and more frequent forest fires is also a problem caused by climate
change (7). Some problems that we do not face in Sweden but are massive problems caused by
climate change and air pollution around the world are coral bleaching (8) and smog (9). Using solar
tubes in schools around the world could solve these problems because reducing energy usage from
non-renewable sources like fossil fuels. This would reduce the rate of climate change and contribute
to reversing it.

Figure 1: Shows a diagram of a room

with a Solar tube

Science Competition FAQs 2

Objective
The objective of our investigation was to find a way to reduce energy usage, more specifically
through light usage, in our school to benefit the environment and also our school’s energy bill.

Judge’s comment:
This is a clear and concise research problem, of local importance and relating directing to the
global issues of climate change and energy sustainability.

Hypothesis
We predict that using different sizes of solar tubes will affect the light intensity and that using the
most (4 small solar tubes) will give the highest light intensity.

Variables
- Independent:
o Solar tube radius, 3 cm (x4), 4.24 cm (x2) and 6 cm (x1)
- Dependent:
o Light intensity inside the box
- Controls:
o The total aperture area of the different sized solar tubes to be able to test which size is
the most effective at lighting up the classroom
o White walls for the box because the classroom walls are white and since white reflects
the most light, therefore the light intensity will be the highest (11)
o No external is light allowed into the box to keep the test fair

Materials & Equipment used

We needed a lot of material and equipment to be able to complete our experiment including:
- LUX light meter
- Reflective shock blanket
- Cardboard
- Card
- Glue gun + glue
- Masking tape
- White paper
- Cardboard knife
- One paper clip
- Scissors

Judge’s comment:
Planning the correct procedure and practical context is thorough and the research problem is fully
addressed.

Method
Our original plan or method was to create a box which would represent one of the lamps in the
classroom. However we soon realised that this would require a bit too much cardboard since we had
to make the box a fourteenth of the room which was 11 m3. We decided to not go with this and
instead to work on a much smaller cardboard box which would represent the entire room in a scale
of 1 cm : 12.5 cm. This meant the cardboard box was going to be in the dimensions 68 cm by 54 cm
by 22 cm.

1. First we drew out the dimensions of the box, 22 cm by 54 cm by 64 cm, and added spaces
for flaps so we could put the box together.

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 2. Secondly we glued the box together and covered the edges in masking tape
3. Then we made the solar tubes with card and a shock blanket. The solar tubes radii were 3
cm, 4.24 cm (but we could only measure to within a mm) and 6 cm. We calculated the
circumference to measure the sizes of card for the solar tubes.
4. Then we cut out the holes for the solar tube in the box, one big in the middle, two medium
ones on either side and four small ones at respective quarters of the top
5. Before the experiment we coated the inside of the box with white paper.
6. We carried out the experiment in 2 different weather conditions, cloudy (11400 lx) and sunny
(80000 lx). We measured light intensity using a LUX meter and repeated the experiment 3
times for each solar tube size.

Figure 2: Shows a birds eye view of our box fitted

with the smallest solar tubes

Table 1: Shows the results from our experiment

Radius of solar Light intensity outside of the box during testing

tube (cm) (lx)
11400 (cloudy) 80000
(sunny)
Light intensity in box (lx) Light intensity in box (lx)

repeat 1 repeat 2 repeat 3 avg. repeat 1 repeat 2 repeat 3 avg.

3 260 160 260 227 1630 1904 1851 1795

4.24 320 480 270 357 2450 2370 2340 2387

6 1000 1930 1580 1503 2630 2610 2550 2597

Table 2: Shows the results from our experiment

Light intensity outside of the box during

testing (lx)
11400 (cloudy) 80000
(sunny)
Light intensity in box (lx) Light intensity in box (lx)

All solar tubes in repeat 1 repeat 2 repeat 3 avg. repeat 1 repeat 2 repeat 3 avg.
the box 2210 2190 2350 2250 7360 7300 7250 7303
Corner of the box
for 6 cm radius
solar tube 260 338 310 303 1930 1430 1320 1560

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Figure 3: A column graph showing our results. The blue and red columns show the difference in the
light intensity inside the box when it was sunny (red) compared to when it was cloudy (blue) outside.

Judge’s comment:
The results are clear and presented accurately.

Conclusion
To conclude our experiment we can say that, as you can see in the tables above, when it was sunny
outside (80,000 lx) the inside of our box had a light intensity that was good enough for reading and
writing. This is because the light intensity required for you to be able to read well is 500-1000 lux (10)
(in our classroom there is an average of 1151 lux) and since this was true for all sizes of solar tubes
we can conclude that on a sunny day having solar tubes of any size as a light source will be enough
for you to be able to do normal class work. However days are not always sunny and as we
discovered even when it is not very cloudy the light intensity can drop significantly. From a light
intensity of 80,000 on a sunny day to a light intensity of only 11,000. This causes a problem since
with the lower light intensity outside there was only a average light intensity of 300 with the different
sized solar tubes, since the big solar tube only gave a light intensity of 303 lux in the corners of the
box it would render part of the classroom useless so we can ignore the fact that in the center of the
box the light intensity was over 1000 lux. This is below the light intensity required for reading so an
additional light source would be required on cloudy days, this can be in the form of lights. You might
think that our solar tube idea has failed to save energy consumption in our school but using solar
tubes would still save a lot of energy on days that are sunny or partly sunny. So in conclusion the
solar tubes would provide enough light on days that are at least partly sunny to do normal classwork
and thus would save energy however an alternative light source that does not rely on the weather
would be needed to compensate for the lack of natural light on cloudy days. An example of this
alternative light source could be small desk lights.

Judge’s comment:
Conclusions lead directly from the results.

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Our results suggest that the middle sized solar tubes (radius 4.24cm) which was not what we
predicted it to be. This is because in our results the smaller solar tubes provided a much lower
average than the middle sized ones and the big solar tube also provides a lower average in the
corners, even though they provide the highest average in the middle their low average in the corners
makes it so that only the middle of the room would be used. This concludes that the middle sized
solar tubes would be the best for lighting up a classroom because they provide an even spread
compared to the big solar tubes and also a provide more light than the smaller solar tubes.

Judge’s comment:
The interpretation of the results is full and thorough, backed up by factual information. A thoughtful
and logical approach has been taken to the final conclusion.

Further improvements
The LUX meter was quite hard to read reliably since the light intensity level fluctuated a lot meaning
that it was hard to tell when it had reached a definitive level. We should also have compared the
surface area of the reflective shock foil used instead of the aperture area, this is because We should
also have put some translucent material on the end of the solar tubes to disperse the light more
effectively in the room because one problem we had that could possibly have affected the results
was that the light intensity increased mainly directly underneath the solar tube which is why we also
measured in the corner of the box when using that one. However, it gave an unfair disadvantage to
the small solar tubes which increased the light intensity mostly in the corners. So if we had had
something to disperse the light evenly it would have been easier to measure and compare the light
intensity fairly.

Judge’s comment:
Improvements to reduce sources of error are included and thoughtfully analysed.

Further implements
Sweden may not be the best place to use solar tubes all year round taking into account the arctic
winter, however Yuma in Arizona is proven to be the sunniest city on Earth with 11 hours of sunlight
each day on average and around 4000 hours of sunlight on average each year so that would be a
good place to use solar tubes (11). Solar tubes have proved to be an effective way of lighting rooms
up and they are also very cheap so using them in schools is very good because it means the schools
have money to spare for more important things like textbooks and school supplies. However, it can
also be used at home by private people who want to either be more energy efficient, pay lower
energy bills or both.

Our sources
(1) [Link]
(2) [Link]
cost-in-t he-u-s/
(3) [Link]
(4) [Link]
(5) [Link]
fran-k artan/
(6) [Link]
summer-heatwave
(7) [Link]
world/a-19465490
(8) [Link]

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 (9) [Link]
(10) [Link]
lighting/
(11) [Link]
world/ss-AAcqF2N#image=5

Judge’s comment:
The following diary is one way to demonstrate that the research problem is fully addressed and
that the planning takes into account all aspects of the experiment procedures. It indicates the
thorough and thoughtful approach taken by the team to collect data and perform accurate practical
work, and shows how ongoing improvements to the process were instrumental to the final success
of the project.

Pre-investigation sessions: These sessions were spent looking around for ideas on topics to
investigate which we found pretty quickly we wanted to investigate energy saving. So our next
problem was coming up with an investigation which took us really long but eventually we decided,
with some input from our teacher, to investigate solar tubes. So we started researching what they
were and how they worked. This was an extremely slow process which we should have spent less
time on.

Start of investigation

Week 1: We made a survey for teachers to fill in. we also chose the teachers from a variety of
different subjects and different genders who were most likely to fill in our table. The table was to
record how many hours a day they have their lights turned on so we can calculate how much energy
is used by lights every week we printed out the tables and handed them to the teachers we had
chosen and asked them to fill them in.

Week 2: We looked at the lights and calculated how much energy they used per hour. We also
planned what materials we were going to need and buy for the experiment.

Week 3: Today we collected the sheets filled in by the teachers the previous week. Three out of five
had filled the records in daily while the other two forgot and filled it in afterwards from memory (not
very accurate). We used that information to calculate how many hours a week they have their lights
on for. We counted the number of bulbs in each of the rooms that the teachers were in. We then
calculated the energy used in each room from the power per bulb and the amount of hours during
the week.

Week 4: We brought in an electricity meter to measure the amount of energy one light uses. We plan
to leave it at the light for nearly five days. We started measuring monday afternoon (15:40) and are
leaving it on until friday. We also planned how we were going to create the cardboard box and solar
tube.

Week 5: We had a bit of a change of a plan after consulting our teachers. We originally planned to
make an 11m3 cardboard box but obviously that was way too large. So we are making a cardboard
box that is 68*54*22 cm so 80784cm3 or 0.080784m3. We also changed our investigation slightly to
asking the question how many solar tubes with the same total aperture area do we need to light up
our physics room. We also had a problem with the electricity meter because everytime the lights
were turned off the electricity meter turned off and it needed to be reset every time it was turned on
which wasn’t done so we didn’t get the measurements for a week. So we measured it for an hour
today. We also began to construct the cardboard box.
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Week 6+7: We continued creating our cardboard box, a scaled down version of the physics
classroom. All the other classrooms in the school are of the same size and ratio so the experiments
results will be able to be applied to any of the classrooms. We made all the six sides by cutting out in
cardboard with flaps for assembling together. We made flaps on all the sides as it was better to have
extra and have to cut them out than having one too little and having to redo a side. Two of the sides
we measured wrong so had to redo those sides. We also put all the sides together and the box was
finished, however we left one side open to be able to put in the solar tubes and see if there were any
holes were light was coming in.

Week 8: We sealed the holes in the box to stop light from coming in. This is to make the experiment
as fair as possible. We also made a door so that we could look into the “room” when the side which
we didn’t seal was temporarily sealed. We started the presentation as well.

Week 9: This week we calculated how big the solar tubes were going to tube so that comparisons of
size and distribution were fair. We decided that the total surface area of the circles at the end of the
cylinders had to be the same total surface area.

Week 10: We realised that we needed to make the tubes shorter because not enough light came in
when they were so tall. Also we realised that if they were that size and were scaled up they would be
huge in real life. So we spent the time cutting them, however then we realised that the tubes turned
too wrinkly when cut so we laminated the tubes and cut them again. We also started working on the
presentation.

Week 11: We realised that the laminated tubes where pretty useless, they took away the reflective
ability of the mirror shock blanket. So we made new smaller solar tubes only 5 cm high and finished
making them. We also made the inside of the box white as all the classrooms in the school have
white walls. There is also a big difference in the reflectiveness of white and dark brown colour so we
realised that that would affect how brightness of the room with the same power of light.

EXPERIMENT: The actual experiment we carried out over the course of 3 breaks we measured the
light intensity outside each time and then the light intensity inside with the different sizes of solar
tubes. We were way too slow at getting to the actual experiment. Everybody in our team was willing
to help even though it was break which was good because we couldn’t have done it without
everybody being there. We also measured the light intensity in the physics room to have something
to compare our results to.

Week 12:
This week we spent writing the investigation and doing the presentation for the year 7’s in our
school.

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