[FourHand451]

You can buy "skylights" that are essentially internally mirrored tubes that accomplish essentially the same thing. I don't believe they're super cheap right now, but I imagine they could be if they became more widely used.

I know someone who installed one in their bathroom and have been surprised at how well it works.

[mrec]

Yes, I encountered one for the first time in the bathroom of a holiday let and, having no idea what it was, got very confused as to how I was supposed to turn it off. Fortunately we had an experimental nuclear physicist in the party who was able to explain that turning the light off would actually be a very bad idea.

[thfuran]

If we just turned it off for an hour each night, we could solve global warming.

[toomuchtodo]

As a building science scholar, I do not recommend skylights or solar tunnels, as they increase the likelihood of roof leaks in the future (as any roof penetration does). Also impairs thermal management due to lack of insulation between the conditioned space and the exterior.

I installed a Velux skylight on one of my previous remodels (replacing an existing low quality skylight), and I still regret it versus decking over the void and deleting the tunnel.

[wholinator2]

I'm currently renting. But i just want to add that the skylight in my house is the single best thing about it. I'm in a location which is pretty well shaded on all sides of my house. The windows that i do have are relatively small and do not let in all that much light. My house is permanently dim, great for sleeping, terrible for starting work in the morning.

In this scenario, the skylight in my bathroom while i do the morning ready is a godsend. Are there other better solutions? I'm sure there are, but is the prevalence of issues with properly installing skylights much larger than the prevalence of issues with windows?

[voisin]

I’ve got a skylight that I hate (faces southwest so in the high summer sun it turns into a heat ray of death) and was planning to have removed, decked over and shingled. Since you are a building science scholar, I am wondering if the tunnel actually needs to be deleted or if I could just put some rigid insulation board at the bottom of the tunnel and then drywall over it?