Take a tightly sealed, double-pane window, fill the interior air space with argon, coat the inside surface of the glass with fluorescent lighting phosphors, and hook electrodes up to the window. Install the window in a home, as you would a normal window, and connect it to a light switch. When night falls, you can flip the switch and turn the whole window into a glowing slab of fluorescence.

This would be even better if the gas itself were luminous, so that the window could be fully transparent, since it wouldn't need the opaque phosphors coating the glass. Neon perhaps?
-- PotatoStew, Mar 29 2001

SAD and Light Therapy http://www.outsidein.co.uk/res_sad.htm
Some references on this for your reference. [Aristotle, Mar 29 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

A device similiar to this is used to treat SAD, Seasonaly Aquired Depression, which people can get during winter. It works by supplying more daylight and allowing people to dose themselves to make them feel more optimistic and lively.
-- Aristotle, Mar 29 2001


Only if you didn't want to annoy the neighbors I suppose. I had been thinking that it would look pretty cool from the outside, however, I would probably feel differently if I lived nextdoor to someone with this setup.
-- PotatoStew, Mar 29 2001


Add to positives. Double pane window with light source between. Exterior pane reflective = Privacy without blinds. Outsiders see the light at its source. If panes need to be 15 or 20mm. apart, better R value.
-- Grandpa Rhd, Dec 17 2005



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