Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Imagine living in a high rise apartment, in the middle of a big city, and having easy access to fresh produce throughout the year. Even though there’s not a farm within miles the vegetables you’re eating are freshly picked! How is that possible? Through indoor farming using the latest engineered grow light technology!
In a recent interview with Jeff Mastin, the lighting expert at Venntis Technologies, LLC in Holland, Michigan, he shared a vision that is fast becoming a reality. He noted that due to recent advances in grow light technology it is quickly becoming more economical to grow produce totally indoors. The primary advantage to indoor farming is the ability to control temperature, humidity, soil and light, the essential elements of the growing process. The secondary advantage is reduced expense from the elimination of the high cost of transportation.
In the high rise example above, one floor of the building would become the “farm”. On that floor would be a variety of crops that would be grown completely indoors. The “transportation costs” would be a ride up the elevator to the now local “farmers market”!
“Lowering costs and improving the rate of plant growth increases profitability and makes the grow light technology attractive to many!”
Venntis Technologies
The engineering process for grow lights involves breaking light down into the primary colors and determining how each color affects the plant. Through that process it has been determined that plants need specific colors for fast growth and food production. Those colors do not include the color green! Plants appear green because that portion of the spectrum is reflected and unused. It’s simply a waste of energy plus expense to use bulbs that emit the full spectrum of light. Reducing unneeded colors lowers energy costs and increases the energy available for growth!
Once the optimal colors have been determined researchers began with the end in mind and set out to create lights that only emitted the ideal colors. Using terms that only a physicist would understand, Mastin described how his company has incorporated the optimal spectrum of light with the energy efficiency of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and now have a grow light that is extremely cost effective and dramatically promotes plant growth. This is an important step in lowering the cost of indoor farming.
Who will benefit from this technology? The list is very long! Greenhouse operations, flower growers, medical marijuana grow houses, recreational hydroponic gardeners and, as we recently reported, the craft brewing industry with their “growing” need for hops. Lowering costs and improving the rate of plant growth increases profitability and makes the light technology attractive to many!
Mastin noted that what we know about grow lights is still only the tip of the iceberg. As research continues he expects to see greater portions of the population having access to locally grown produce with minimal transportation costs. He also expects to see locally grown produce available all year long!
This lighting technology will be something to watch closely. If the trend of growing plants indoors continues, it could easily be a game changer! Old abandoned buildings will be re-purposed and become the new source of a community’s food!
The Energy Alliance Group (EAG) of North America is an energy solutions company providing energy saving products, technologies and services.
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