Title 42The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§17173 Daylighting systems and direct solar light pipe technology

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 152— - ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER V— - ACCELERATED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT › Part Part A— - Solar Energy › § 17173

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must create a research and development program to help test and bring direct solar lighting (like light pipes) into commercial use. Supported devices must be able to show how many kilowatt-hours they save compared with the electric lights they replace. Each year the Secretary must send Congress a report that reviews the saved‑energy data from every project. Direct solar renewable energy: a device that brings sunlight into an enclosed space as usable light without changing it to another energy form. Light pipe: a device that carries visible sunlight inside while keeping out unwanted heat. Congress authorized $3,500,000 per year for fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §17173

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary shall establish a program of research and development to provide assistance in the demonstration and commercial application of direct solar renewable energy sources to provide alternatives to traditional power generation for lighting and illumination, including light pipe technology, and to promote greater energy conservation and improved efficiency. All direct solar renewable energy devices supported under this program shall have the capability to provide measurable data on the amount of kilowatt-hours saved over the traditionally powered light sources they have replaced.
(b)The Secretary shall transmit to Congress an annual report assessing the measurable data derived from each project in the direct solar renewable energy sources program and the energy savings resulting from its use.
(c)For purposes of this section—
(1)the term “direct solar renewable energy” means energy from a device that converts sunlight into useable light within a building, tunnel, or other enclosed structure, replacing artificial light generated by a light fixture and doing so without the conversion of the sunlight into another form of energy; and
(2)the term “light pipe” means a device designed to transport visible solar radiation from its collection point to the interior of a building while excluding interior heat gain in the nonheating season.
(d)There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out this section $3,500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective on the date that is 1 day after Dec. 19, 2007, see section 1601 of Pub. L. 110–140, set out as a note under section 1824 of Title 2, The Congress.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 17173

Title 42The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73