Solatube Expands Ventilation Offerings

VISTA – Solatube International, Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers and makers of tubular skylights, isn’t just helping light things up, it’s also helping the world cool off and stay comfortable.

The company, founded in the 1980s with its first North American office established in 1991 in San Diego County, established the tubular daylighting category but continues to expand its line of cutting-edge ventilation systems like bathroom fans, garage fans and whole house fans.

Earlier this year, Solatube launched a line of trademarked ClimaSense solar-powered attic fans, which company leaders say will revolutionize home climate control by providing optimal ventilation and temperature regulation in attics and unfinished garages throughout the day and into the night.

The company first came out with a line of attic fans in 2000 and whole house fans in 2017.

Solatube’s newest attic fans are engineered with integrated sensors that detect temperature and humidity changes, automatically activating the fan to maintain desired conditions.

During the day, the fan is powered by the sun’s light. At dusk, it switches to house power and into the night. In pre-cooling the home’s attic before the next day, the system enhances overall thermal efficiency, lowering the entire home’s temperature, reducing strain on the air conditioning system and decreasing electricity costs.

The new fans also offer year-round protection, delivering consistent ventilation regardless of weather conditions, mitigating heat and humidity in the summer and prevents moisture, mold and ice damming in the winter.

Innovations and ‘Smart Systems’

Francisco Lopez, president of Solatube International, said the company “continues to innovate, with ongoing research and development aimed at improving the performance and efficiency of its daylighting and ventilation systems. This includes advancements in materials, optics, design and incorporating our products in smart systems.”

Solatube has also expanded from a focus on residential clients to large venues, locally to include exhibits at the San Diego Zoo and an amphitheater on the campus of UC San Diego. Lopez said the company’s customer base is now about 65% residential, 35% commercial.

Under the oversight since 2021 of Kingspan Light + Air USA, a division of Kingspan Group PLC (OTCM: KGSPY) out of Ireland, Solatube is part of a group of Kingspan Light +Air’s businesses that include the Colt Group, ESSEMES Services, Kingspan Services GmbH, Kingspan STC and Skydome.

Lopez said that as a part of Kingspan Light + Air’s sales strategy, the company plans to continue to expand its reach and leverage more resources.

“(We work) closely with our domestic and international distribution partners and our direct-to-consumer home improvement residential dealer network,” Lopez said. “Solatube has expanded its market reach globally, with distribution networks in over 100 countries. This international presence will continue to help the company grow its brand and market share.”

Neall Digert, Ph.D., is vice president of innovation and market development for Kingspan Light + Air and works out of the Vista headquarters.

Kingspan serves as a “key industry resource that actively participates in developing new technologies, application science, advanced product performance metrics, and national policy and standards language,” he said.

Growing Through Three Decades

Lopez said that over the last 30 years, Solatube has formed strategic partnerships with builders, architects and designers to integrate their daylighting solutions into a wide range of projects, from residential homes to large commercial buildings, and now its new ventilation products designed by company’s engineers will lead to further growth.

“Our approach to new product development (is) to provide the maximum number of benefits, tailored to the building occupant, with a high-quality product that will last a very long time and require little to no-maintenance, and that also helps to reduce our carbon footprint while using them,” Lopez said. “Not an easy task, but as the leaders in our category, we pride ourselves in having this focus.”

Digert called Solatube a company that “is constantly exploring the application of new materials and technologies to ensure its products remain industry-leading daylighting and building technologies.”

He said both Solatube International and Kingspan strive to be at the forefront of product, design, and building evaluation technologies, and have already incorporated virtual reality into its footprint.

“We have pioneered the application of new, advanced product data types that enable a wide range of incredibly accurate design modeling and space visualization tools,” he said. “We anticipate that the ability to perform detailed VR inspections of an architectural design, relative to construction visualization and the finished spaces’ occupant experience, will be a key element of the architectural workflow in the near future.”

Lopez said Solatube is using VR as well as Artificial Intelligence tools to help the company streamline. The company is heavily data driven, pulling information from weather outputs around the world that feed into the company’s “lighting calculator.”

The company launched out of Australia in 1986, its tubular daylighting device, a compact and leakproof alternative to traditional skylights, was patented. Solatube’s global distribution network covers Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Lopez said that globally, Solatube’s largest distributor is in Monterrey, Mexico.

Although he couldn’t be specific, Lopez said the company has big plans coming as it continues its work with lighting needs.

“We’re working on something on new technology that helps us shape the light as it comes indoors,” he said. “We’re working on core new innovative ways to shape the light to maximize that output.”

Solatube International
FOUNDED: 1991
PRESIDENT: Francisco Lopez
HEADQUARTERS: Vista
BUSINESS: B2B and B2C natural light and ventilation
WEBSITE: solatube.com

Kingspan Light + Air North America
FOUNDED: 2016
PRESIDENT: Marci Bonham
HEADQUARTERS: Lake Forest, Illinois
BUSINESS: Daylighting, ventilation and smoke management solutions for the sustainable built environment
WEBSITE: kingspanlightandair.us

Kingspan Group PLC
FOUNDED: 1966
CEO: Gene Murtagh
HEADQUARTERS: Kingscourt, Ireland
BUSINESS: High-performance insulation and building envelope solutions
REVENUE: €877m (2023, currently equal to $949m USD)
STOCK: KGSPY (OTCM)
EMPLOYEES: 22,000 globally
WEBSITE: kingspan.com/group
SOCIAL IMPACT: Kingspan Group’s 10-year “Planet Passionate” sustainability program aims to have a positive impact on global challenges of climate change, circularity and the protection of the natural world.
NOTABLE: Solatube International became part of the Kingspan family in 2021 when Kingspan Light + Air acquired the company.