Natural lighting in the home: benefits and solutions

From mental and physical well-being to financial savings, natural lighting brings concrete benefits: lower power consumption and more daily comfort. Sunlight can improve your mood, regulate your biological rhythm and transform the look of a room. But how do you make the most of it? In this guide we explore all the benefits of natural light and suggest intelligent solutions to amplify it, channel it and make it the feature point of your spaces.

Why make use of natural lighting in the home?

Natural light is an ally of mental and physical well-being: it improves your mood, stimulates concentration, regulates sleep-wake patterns, and makes rooms cosier and brighter. Exposure to sunlight during the day, even while staying indoors, can make a big difference to the quality of your daily life. But the benefits don’t stop there. Reducing the use of artificial lighting during the daytime also means saving energy and reducing bills. 

Lighting is one of the components that has the greatest impact on energy consumption, and thus on utility bills. Knowing how to make use of natural light therefore helps to save on lighting in the home and becomes a necessity that can bring real benefits in everyday life. Not only a strategy to reduce energy consumption in favour of natural lighting, but also a conscious choice for environmental sustainability. Optimising solar lighting in the home helps to lower CO2 emissions and reduce the environmental impact of energy production.

How to optimise natural lighting in every room

Making the most of sunlight requires care and deliberate choices. From stained glass windows to blinds to more advanced solutions, there are many strategies to increase the brightness in a room.

Large Glazed Doors and Windows

One of the most effective ways to capitalise on natural light in the home is to choose the type of windows and their position considering the orientation of the house:

• Choose large, full-height or panoramic windows: not only do they illuminate spaces better, they also create continuity between inside and outside.
• Consider the orientation of the house: southern exposures provide constant light during the day, eastern or western exposures offer more dynamic light effects, while northern exposures offer more even but less intense light, ideal for studies or bedrooms.
• Install thermal and soundproof glazing: the former provide thermal insulation by reducing heat loss; the latter, ideal in urban settings, allow natural light to be enjoyed while limiting noise from outside.

Curtains and Screens

Not all rooms need the same light intensity, which is why it is a good idea to fit curtains or screens so as to adapt lighting to every need:

• Lightweight, semi-transparent curtains are ideal for living areas and screen direct light while keeping the room bright, airy and cosy.

• Dark or blackout curtains absorb sunlight, making the sleeping area and rooms in the house where privacy is desired cosier and more intimate. 

• Movable screens or panel blinds, on the other hand, are solutions that allow the amount of light to be adjusted as required, while maintaining privacy and brightness.

Structural Solutions

When windows and glazing are not enough, structural design can offer numerous ideas for optimising natural lighting:

• Skylights and roof openings are an excellent solution for bringing natural light into poorly exposed rooms such as blind bathrooms, corridors or attics.

• Tubular solar panels or solar collectors channel and reflect sunlight into the home through mirror or fibre optic systems, also increasing the energy efficiency of the home.

How to make the most of natural light in the home

Natural light changes the way we experience spaces, but in addition to strategies and structural solutions to regulate its intensity and optimise lighting, you can follow some simple tips to make your home even more pleasant to live in:

• Choose light colours for walls, such as white, beige or pastel shades, to reflect sunlight and make rooms brighter, even when there is little direct exposure.

• Position furniture so that it does not obstruct the direct passage of light.

• Decorate rooms with indoor plants, not only to enhance the room and purify the air, but also to enhance the perception of brightness, thanks to the visual contrast they create with the surrounding surfaces and to their ability to draw the eye to the brightest areas.

• Make clever use of mirrors and reflective surfaces to reflect light deeply into rooms.

Finding the right balance between light and space is the first step to more aware management of home energy in the summer and saving money on your energy bill.

If you are interested in the world of energy, find out more about Enel's stories, news and projects on our Blog.