I get relatively little natural light into one room as shown below (this is the only window):
Is there a way to increase natural light into the room so that I don't have to use the electic light all the time?
Well, what causes the room to be dark? The light gets absorbed into objects and stays there. To keep the light buzzing through your room to make it feel bright, you need to make sure that as much in your room as possible reflects light. Mirrors reflect almost 100% of the light, i.e. more mirrors means less light absorption means a brighter room. Light colours (white) reflect more light than dark colours (brown/black). If you change your interior design, you will have a brighter room and may not need to add more light.
If you add mirrors to your room, it would be most efficient to place them where the light enters the room. Mounting a mirror outside the window is one way to accomplish this.
Often, countries with long winters (e.g. Norway, see below) have bright interior designs, because in the winter period one has to keep as much light as possible from being absorbed.
Countries with mild winters and strong sun during the day (e.g. Spain, picture below) tend to have darker designs, presumably to allow the eyes to rest at least inside the house.
(source: theluxhome.com)
If it's your own building, you might be able to add on some sort of light tunnel outside the window or through the ceiling that extends to the roof to collect natural sunlight and beams it into your room:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube
Though if that were an option, a skylight might be an easier option.
Lacking that, how about a mirror (preferably unbreakable plastic or metal) the size of a pane of glass that hangs out the window at a 45 degree angle such that if you look at it out the window, it reflects the sky above. That would channel some additional light into your room.
Keeping it clean might be a problem, especially if you have pigeons in your building.
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1"Though if that were an option, a skylight might be an easier option." Or just a bigger window...– EarthliŋMay 2 '13 at 19:06
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1He's not getting much reflected light from the dark red brick building across the way, if he has the option to put in a skylight or light tunnel to the roof where he can capture direct sunlight, that will give him far more light than a bigger window. And cutting a hole in the ceiling/roof is generally a lot easier than widening a window in an exterior wall of a multi-unit building.– JohnnyMay 2 '13 at 19:09
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Sure. I just understood the question to be about increasing light without making new windows, skylights and other major changes in the building. But I like your suggestion anyway =)– EarthliŋMay 2 '13 at 19:17