Imagine a windowless office totally illuminated by sunlight or a dark basement made bright with natural light. Seem impossible?

With new technology being developed by a University instructor, these scenarios may become a reality.

Richard Mistrick, an architectural engineering instructor working on his illuminating engineering doctorate, is working on two different methods of interior lighting using sunlight instead of fluorescent or incandescent lighting.

The first method of interior lighting utilizes holographic film placed over existing windows in a room. The film concentrates and redirects the sunlight to the ceiling, which then lights the room. This method works well in rooms with low ceilings or small windows with limited natural light. The film would only have to be adjusted once or twice a year, Mistrick said.

However, the holographic film method would not work in a room without windows. The second alternative method of indoor lighting would then utilize a type of fiber optic tubing called light pipe.

"Light pipes are plastic ducts that transfer light over distances," explained Mistrick.

The light pipes, which contain holographic material, would have an opening outside the building to capture sunlight, Mistrick said. Then, using fiber optics, the pipes would redirect the sunlight through the tubing to an interior room. The light pipe would then terminate in a lighting fixture that would emit a natural light.

Mistrick is waiting for additional funding to continue his research. University professor of electrical engineering Francis Yu, who originally suggested the project to Mistrick, said he has found the results so far to be positive.

While technology for both methods exists, Mistrick emphasized that many problems must be worked out before these methods can be implemented in today's buildings.

The holographic film in the first method tends to break up the sunlight into a prism, creating a 'rainbow effect,' which can be complicated to correct. In the second method, light pipes work fine as long as the sun shines directly into them, he said. But as the sun moves, the pipes must be constantly redirected at the sun, which creates the need for an elaborate tracking method to keep them in line, he added.

"People prefer daylight to artificial illumination . . . Florescent lamps sometimes flicker and do not emit light uniformly across all colors," Mistrick said.

"Twenty to 50 percent of building electricity is used for lighting," Mistrick explained. And along with the energy drain of lighting is the cost of cooling. "Daylighting generates a bit less heat than florescent and much less heat than incandescent lighting,"Mistrick stated.