Sunoptics Prismatic Skylights was started with a mission of replacing enough electric lighting energy through daylighting, at peak demand hours, to equal the generating capacity of a 1,000 megawatt power plant. With the help of our valued customers, Sunoptics is more than half way to its goal. If we continue at our current pace, we will reach our goal by the year 2012.

Sunoptics Prismatic Skylights was founded in 1978 by Jerome (Jerry) Blomberg, formerly one of the owners and president of Blomberg Window Systems in Sacramento, California. He decided early on that daylighting was the easiest, most cost-effective way to save energy and at the same time improve lighting quality with full-spectrum natural sunlight.

His leadership included serving as president of the Glass Management Association of Superior California and national president of the then Architectural Aluminum Manufacturers Association, now the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA). As president of AAMA he organized “The National Fenestration Council” to lobby for the adoption of Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) as the national energy conservation standard as the alternate to prescriptive conservation standards, as proposed by the Ford Administration. President Ford signed BEPS into law in 1976 before he left office. Blomberg served as chairman of the Building Envelope Sub-Committee in the development of California's first Non-Residential Energy Efficiency Standards. This was before the California Energy Commission was legislated into existence.

Managing the available natural energy resources at the building was Blomberg's original goal to save energy. Daylighting with skylights gave the quickest return and had the best public acceptance, so that became the focus.

Blomberg contended that the single most significant way to achieve energy efficiency in buildings is daylighting to reduce baseline building energy use. PG&E's ACT2 Energy Efficiency Demonstration Project (Resources) validated that claim and convinced Blomberg he was in the right end of the energy reduction business.

Combining his expertise in window systems with his passion for energy reduction through daylighting, Blomberg focused his attention on perfecting skylight design.

In 1978, Sunoptics introduced the prismatic skylight, a unique concept in skylight optical design. At the same time, Sunoptics created the 800MD frame designed which eliminates the leak and condensation issues associated with standard industrial skylights. This new design, still in use today, helped Sunoptics offset the perceived negatives of standard industrial skylights.

Sunoptics has worked hard to become vertically integrated and today is the only skylight manufacturer that produces it’s product from the raw plastic through to the finished product. We continue to concentrate our education and sales efforts on those applications with the greatest potential for energy savings through daylighting.

Jerry’s sons, Jim and Tom Blomberg, were both active at Blomberg Window Systems and joined Sunoptics Prismatic Skylights once the company was established. Today, Jim serves as the company's president and Tom as Vice President of Operations. Jerry still is actively involved in day-to-day management and R&D of Sunoptics. Jerry is proud to still be an active voice of the daylighting industry, which he has seen emerge from rough concept thirty years ago to an essential part of building energy codes today.

The Blombergs remain committed to maintaining Sunoptics' leadership role in the industry through customer education as well as superior quality products.