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LED Lighting And The Cannabis Growing Industry

2021-03-17

The Cannabis Business Times conducted a survey and found that 80% of respondents grew at least part (or all) of their cannabis crops indoors. Indoor growing will likely continue to be the preferred method of cultivation, because it gives cultivators more control over the environment, and because many of the newer hybrid varieties of cannabis are designed to grow at their optimum in indoor conditions.

traditional marijuana grow lights suck up a ton of energy. Their inefficiencies drive up the price of the end product, and their emissions contribute to our ongoing climate crisis. While the energy crisis within the cannabis industry has the potential to become a huge strain on the industry, it doesn’t have to be. Smart growing strategies that use modern energy efficiency techniques such as LED lights and sensor-backed controls can dramatically reduce the industry’s growing carbon footprint.

1)Figuring out grow light efficiency is the key to saving both profit and planet

As far as operational efficiency is concerned, the largest energy-consuming system is lighting, specifically, marijuana grow lights. Light levels (lumens, color spectrum), fixture technology, and burn hours are critical aspects of product yield and potency. As compared to standard commercial warehouse lighting, traditional grow lights are very energy-use intensive and only a portion of the fixtures allow control of light level adjustments. Additionally, for the most part, lighting is manually controlled, with some ambient lighting remaining illuminated up to twenty-four hours each day.

2)Types of grow lights
High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights were the standard in the industry because they emit a high volume of light, which is necessary to get good growth. However, they also emit a ton of heat, which then needs to be offset with fans, reflectors, plant covers, etc., and they are big-time energy hogs.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) lighting is another option that isn’t as hot or energy-intensive but has the downfall of being big. Meanwhile, their light does not travel as far, which means they work best for short growing plants.

LED lighting is an option that is gaining ground in the industry and will likely become the standard because it is the most efficient in itself; while its lower heat output results in less of a need for fans and plant covers leading to higher levels of efficiency throughout entire system.

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