Ok I'm a complete newbie to growing with grow lights, and growing in general, but I have been doing quite a bit of research over the past few days on the merits of using LED lights to grow plants and the prospects of using solar panels to generate the electricity to use those grow lights which has highlighted some interesting results. Firstly solar panels, from what I have gathered, a fairly standard solar panel setup produces around 1kwh/day/m2. Secondly, from what I have gathered (or at least what LED light producers are claiming) these new LED grow lights are capable of providing sufficient light to facilitate good plant growth with as little as 10 watts per m2, which would imply that with 16 hours of grow light operation a day someone would be able to grow at least 6 m2 of plants for each m2 of solar panel! Am I missing something or is it looking like in the future that we will be utilising sunlight via solar panels prior to delivering it more efficiently to plants via LEDs to facilitate multiple layers of growing on each square meter? Obviously at the present time it's still not cost effective to do this given the massive capital costs for both solar panels and LED lights, nonetheless it is looking like both solar panels and LED lighting technology are both improving in quality and falling in price with each passing month. So will this be the future? are people doing this now? thoughts?
I saw a segment on I think CNN today regarding a company in Newport Bch CA that is marketing the first solar powered street light for parking lots, LED, 4-solar panels and 1-windmill I can't remember the complete name but it was Green ? If you follow the financial news at all it's being speculated that indoor farming will become a very big industry (similar to open sea tuna farms), insects & disease are becoming increasingly more & more problematic, as we know growing indoors gives complete control of the environment, so the demand will push the technology. LED's aren't quiet there yet, I grow with them and they are excellent for veg but lack in the flower cycles, search and check out the many LED grow journals from the last year or so, we may also need to re-learn somewhat how to grow under LED to max yield. IMHO- when the higher wattage LED lights become available they will consume & create heat comparable to HID type lighting, have you seen these LED Innovation Design - TI SmartLamp - Growing Tips and check this grow out using one TI Smartlamp Widow Grow - Cannabis Culture Forums IMHO by the time LED's start working comparable to HID in flowering sulfur plasma LED Grow Light - Chameleon Grow Systems - Scientifically Controlled Grow Systems lights will start becoming available and the LED market will have to be more price competitive. Here's a thread that might interest you http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-roo...lity-solar-panels-hidden-grow-room-setup.html Stay Happy, S.S.
So if the LED and Solar combination aren't more effective than the sun right now - do people think that there is a good chance they will be in the future? I also see the future of food production being indoors, the only constraint is electricity and capital costs.