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The architect can design the building so the longest walls run from east to west allowing solar heat to enter the home in winter, while limiting direct sunshine in the summer.  South facing windows and skylights let sunshine in, while shades and overhangs reduce excessive summer heat and still permit the lower winter sun to shine in.  Designing an open floor plan is the best way to ensure the light diffuses around the home. 

According to the US Department of Energy, a home built with day lighting techniques can have lighting costs 40 to 60 percent lower than a typical home.

A study commissioned by Pacific Gas and Electric of California found that in addition to energy savings, daylighting is credited with higher test scores in schools and increased product sales in retail stores.

''Among their findings a retailer whose primary motivation for inclusion of daylight was to save energy costs found that they saved $0.24/sf to 0.66/sf. This was very encouraging but far overshadowed by the increased sales in the daylit stores. It appeared that the profit from increased sales associated with daylight is worth at least 19 times more than the energy savings, and more likely, may be worth 45-100 times more than the energy savings. Additionally day lighting appeared to have a great affect on students. The ones with the most daylight in their classrooms increased scores from 7 to 26 percent. ''

Heschong Mahone Group (1999)

The study does not attempt to explain why the students scored better, but one researcher's theory is that better vision leads to better morale leads to more motivated teachers leads to higher test scores.   Who knows?  But one thing is true, lower energy costs leads to happier homeowners.