Apart from labor, energy is probably the top operating cost for most growers. Therefore, one of the best ways to help reduce costs is to improve the energy efficiency of their operation. Energy efficient greenhouses cost less to operate, and in some cases perform better than less-efficient facilities. When you think about the fluctuating and (usually) rising costs of energy, it only makes sense to ensure that your greenhouse is as energy efficient as possible.
But there are additional practices you can adopt to continuously monitor and optimize your energy use. Here are some simple tips for improving energy efficiency in lighting.
Determining Plant Requirements
Through the process of light planning, you can determine how best to feed plants with light. Before you do that, you need to understand the plant in question and its needs:
- Daily photoperiod. The number of hours you expose the plant to light within a 24-hour period
- Intensity of lighting, or how many photons are fed to the plants, typically measured in µmol/m2/s
- Determining the right light spectrum, i.e. combinations of wavelengths for each growth phase
What makes this task challenging are different requirements for each plant variety, as well as each growth phase. Good artificial lighting is a close match to sunlight, but artificial lighting can go even a step further and feed the plants with wavelengths that could grow plants even faster and more nutrient dense than when grown under sunlight.
Stop Measuring Light Quality in Watts
For a long time, more watts meant higher light intensity. Cultivators who used HID bulbs developed lighting systems according to how many watts they needed to properly illuminate their grow facility.
In the modern market, the only reason to look at watts is to determine whether your current lighting system is using more energy than it needs to.
The Choice of Lights
Understanding how much light a plant needs in each of its growth phases gives input to how many lights should be used, what kind of lights, and how they should be positioned. Simultaneously, the application determines the type to be used. Applications range from very low light intensity installations, such as tissue culture laboratories where the intensities range from 10 to 100 µmol/m2/s, to high light intensity installations, such as a growth chamber mimicking outdoor conditions, where light intensity could be as high as 2000 µmol/m2/s.
One extremely simple answer is to choose high-efficiency LED grow lights. If you’ve been growing plants with MH and HPS grow lights, you stand to cut your lighting expenses in half just by switching to LEDs.
Monitor Light Levels
Most commercial growers have a system in place for measuring light quality across the canopy.
Of course, this would only result in energy cost savings if you can lower the light and reduce intensity. But efficiency isn’t just about using less; it’s about eliminating waste. If your lights are too high, you might be wasting perfectly usable photons as light intensity depreciates when light escapes off the sides of the canopy.
Keep Grow Lights Cool
You may already know that LED grow lights emit almost no heat. This is another reason LEDs are the top choice for energy efficiency in lighting. Less heat radiation means less need for supplemental cooling—another major energy expense.
The best LED grow lights come with features to prevent overheating within the fixture. Quantum boards LED grow light which run much cooler than other LED panels, so the fixture doesn't even need fans. Passive cooling is all you need. Not only does that mean silent operation, it also means a longer lifespan.
Beyond light selection, you can help promote energy efficiency in lighting by maintaining a safe temperature for your lamps. Keep the thermal junction temperature of an LED light below 100 degrees, and you’ll get the biggest bang for your energy bucks.
Other Key Findings
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning efficiencies can lower energy use. The overall total HVAC energy efficiency potential is 826,814 kilowatt-hours for the facilities included in the survey. This represents an overall savings of 18.3 percent of total consumption.
- About one-third of the survey respondents would like to work with their utilities to increase the energy efficiency of their operations.
- Cannabis production has become less energy intensive with more outdoor cultivation; using better-designed facilities; and using more energy-efficient lighting, HVAC technologies and marijuana grow tent.
Final Thoughts
Finally, stay informed.
Because they were still working with old information. They didn’t realize how much LED lights had advanced in efficiency, intensity, and overall function.
Of course, your exhaust fans may stop helping your indoor air quality and energy efficiency and actually start hurting them if they are not kept in good repair.
US Comfort can help by providing preventative maintenance and repairs as needed.When you call us for an exhaust fan repair, you can rest assured we will provide an effective repair in a timely fashion.
But we will never rush into a repair—instead we’ll take as much time as we need to be sure we’re providing the right repair that will solve your problem in a cost-effective manner.
We carry lots of spare fan belts and other parts in our trucks to help prevent any unnecessary delays in the repair process.
Most fan repairs are completed to the client’s 100 percent satisfaction the same day they are requestedMake Your Appointment NowPlease call 800-738-4160 now to schedule a visit from one of our skilled service technicians.
We’ll give you a specific appointment time and we’ll be on time or even early.More Visit: http://www.uscomfort.com/800-738-4160818-430-4662323-319-2060Ac serviceAc repairAc service Los AngelesAc repair Los Angeles Air conditioning service Air conditioning repair Air conditioning service Los Angeles Air conditioning repair Los AngelesPlumbing service Plumbing repairElectrical servicesElectrical repairHeating servicesHeating repairHeatingAttic Insulation Los AngelesServer room coolingThermostats Services Los Angeles
Lark Engineering offers compact, maintenance-free & highly efficient Counter Flow Cooler in India.
The cooling of the feed pellets is an indispensable process in the feed pellet machine pelletization.
The counter flow pellet cooler can cool the pellets from the granulator at a temperature of 70 °C to 90 °C to a temperature slightly above room temperature of 3 °C to 5 °C, and then it can reduce to safe moisture.
Are you wondering what a comfortable room temperature for your home is?
Certainly, it is the temperature at which you feel comfortable.
Room temperature can be defined as the thermometer reading of a room.
It is the temperature at which humans feel comfortable while wearing regular clothes.
This has led to the creation of grow rooms where one can grow plants and vegetables under controlled conditions.
And what to focus on while buying a carbon filter?So, keep scrolling down and get your answers!
For example, some people use grow rooms because they have no other choice for outdoor gardening.
Most of the grow rooms are covered that reduces the chances of air ventilation.
Moreover, spores from plants, different bugs tend to stay in the air, causing a foul smell.
Carbon filters for air filtration are made up of activated carbon.
