A skylight is a sweet thing to have, since it bestows your home with natural light for zero cost… except for the installation. And there's the rub: it's hard to justify the expense of putting a skylight into an existing home, especially since it'll give you healthy doses of sunlight for only a few hours a day.

But what if there was a way to get more direct sunlight through a special skylight that's much easier to install? That's the Solatube in a nutshell — a short conduit on your roof that uses fancy-sounding stuff like Raybender Technology and a Light Intercepting Transfer Device to reflect, refract, and concentrate sunlight in a room. Even when the sun is at a lousy angle, the Solatube will redirect its natural rays to provide the best illumination.

The tubes come in 10-, 14-, and 21-inch-diameter sizes, depending on the light level you want. We like the idea not just for its efficiency, but also because it takes away one more way for nefarious bad guys to get into your home. If you're thinking about getting one installed, you may want to look into the Sunlight Direct lamp, too, just to compare. — Peter Pachal

Solatube, via Inhabitat