Solar Tube, Tubular Skylight, TDD
or Daylight Pipe...
Which is the best generic name for products like SunPipe®.
While Solar Tube, Tubular Skylight and
Daylight Pipe are all generic names used for products like
SunPipe®, the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) has
concluded that they should be called Tubular Daylighting Devices
(TDD's). We believe that TDD's is not a term that will catch on with
the public, and rightly so. It would be like calling a traditional
skylight a Quadrilateral Daylighting Device (QDD).
We don't like solar tube because it is a vague
term. A tube relating in some way to the sun could be used for
heating or illumination. Even a telescope could be considered a solar
tube.
We don't like tubular skylight because a
skylight is defined as a window installed in a roof or ceiling.
First, SunPipe® is not a window. Second, SunPipes can deliver
daylight to basements of 3-story homes by being installed through
multiple roof sections and ceilings and, third, SunPipes can be
installed horizontally through walls, not just vertically through
roofs and ceilings. Also, to most construction professionals, the
term, "skylight" carries negative connotations with it because
skylights are energy hogs and they tend to leak, two unwanted
characteristics that motivated us to invent a new energy-efficient
product to replace skylights.
So, in keeping with the practice of
useing water pipes and gas pipes to deliver water and gas into
buildings, we encourage the use of the generic term, "daylight
pipe."
SunPipe® Your Life!