Top 5 Benefits of LED Grow Lights | Grow Lighting 101

In horticulture or indoor farming, grow light greatly affects the growing speed and yield of the plant. Among all types of grow lights, LED lights are the technology of the future and they have a number of huge advantages over other traditional horticultural lighting solutions. In this article, CALIVE will list the top 5 benefits you can get from LED grow lights.

Commercial Grow Lights: From HPS to LED

The high-pressure sodium (HPS) was first developed and introduced in 1968 and served as an energy-efficient source in exterior, interior, and industrial lighting applications. For the past fifty years, HPS lamps were widely used as a member of the high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp family by commercial growers.

HPS grow lights provide a high energy intensity, but this forced experienced growers to overcome the shortages. To compensate for excessive heat, energy, and spectrum emissions from older grow light fixtures, growers had to invest in costly ventilation systems and let light dictate the growth.

As new innovations and technology began to develop, LED lights slowly became shared in the lighting market. LED lights were firstly designed over half a century and primarily used as residential and commercial lighting. Until recent decades, LED lights started to emerge in the indoor horticulture industry. LED grow lights were designed to maximize spectrum and coverage while minimizing wasted energy and dangerous heat generated by traditional HPS lights.

What are LEDs

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a type of light source that uses solid-state semiconductor chips to produce light when an electric current flows through them. The LED technology allows the light to produce more photons (light) while using less electricity than old HID technologies, such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights or ceramic metal-halide (CMH) lights.

Key Benefits of LED Grow Lights from CALIVE

As a lighting manufacturer with over 20 years of experience, CALIVE designs and manufactures LED grow lights that provide premium solutions in the horticultural industry. The CALIVE LED grow lights such as FLUTTERBY, TITAN, HYDRA series have unique designs for different lighting facility conditions.

The top 5 benefits of CALIVE LED grow lights are:

1. High Efficiency & Save Money on Electricity Costs

Compared with HPS or Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) grow lights, CALIVE LED grow lights produce the same amount of light or even more while using less energy. A unit of µmol/J measures the light output efficacy, and Joules/s counts the energy usage. A double-ended HPS fixture can produce 1750 µmol/s while using 1000W of power. The efficacy of light is 1.75 µmol/J. However, CALIVE commercial led grow light FLUTTERBY 640W can produce 1,750 μmol/s photon energy while only using 640W energy, giving the efficacy of 2.8µmol/J. The FLUTTERBY 640W is almost 60% more efficient than the 1000W DE HPS fixture while saving 30% energy usage. For states with limited energy access of electricity for cannabis growing, CALIVE ensures more lights at your facility without exceeding your building’s energy limits or compromising light intensity.

2. Longer Lifespan

Another advantage of LED chip technology is the longevity. Compared with traditional HPS and average light bulbs, LED grow lights function at lower operating temperatures. Typically, a LED grow lighting system can run for up to 50,000 hours, much longer than the traditional lighting system. The HPS grow lights usually need to be replaced after only one year of regular use. Thanks to the long lifespan of LED technology, cultivators will no longer have to replace the light bulbs so frequently. Our CALIVE commercial LED grow lights offer a five-year warranty, saving you money on new fixture replacements and lowering your lighting system maintenance.

3. Produce Less Heat

The traditional light sources such as HPS and CMH fixtures produce much more heat when operating. That heat causes energy waste and develops issues and limitations for indoor growers. Since plants usually require different temperatures in different stages of growth, the growers have to remove the excess heat from the indoor environment to keep an optimal growing temperature for the plant. As a result, many facilities have to install and run expensive air conditioning (HVAC) systems in grow rooms, which causes even more significant amounts of energy waste and increases the operating cost of the whole system.

With advanced LED lighting systems, growers do not have to pay as much as before to maintain an optimal temperature and build up a plant-friendly environment easily. Before LEDs, many facilities had to hang light bulbs high on ceilings to keep the heat away from the plant. A lot of lighting output, at the same time, was lost as a compromise. Light is absorbed by particles in the air. The LED fixtures can be mounted lower and closer to the plants, which increases the amount of light reaching to the plants.

By using CALIVE LED grow lights, growers do not need to compromise their growing environment due to outdated growing kits. The LED grow lights help them prevent light waste and focus lights on desired areas.

4. Customized Configuration for Different Lighting Applications

To achieve the best photosynthesis performance, most LEDs are installed to direct light down into the canopy and give an overhead light source, as plants absorb light from the top of their leaves. Since LEDs have a much lower operating temperature, growers can easily customize them for difficult areas that need illumination.

CALIVE commercial LED grow lights were designed with different coat finishes and structured to fit any installation conditions. For example, the FLUTTERBY series and HYDRA series’ design is ideal for vertical farming conditions. Growers can place the canopy vertically on racks. When growing space is limited or facility renting is expensive, multi-level growth can increase the yield and output while reducing facility costs.

The TITAN can be growers’ go-to solution when they retrofit their facility and replace traditional bulbs with more advanced LED lights. Our TITAN features a unique copper pipe design for optimal heat dissipation and delivers the highest efficacy and light output, reducing the fixture count. As its name indicates, TITAN’s robust, heavy-duty design can hang on the top of ceilings while optimizing the daylight needed for fruit, vegetables, or cannabis. In large greenhouses with a lot of natural sunlight, its compact power supply, and linear design reduce shadows on plants.

The LYRA bar light is ideal for growing applications that require a lighting source on sides and corners. Growers can hang LYRA vertically in the corners of the grow space to increase light concentration and open up the canopy as the plants grow evenly toward the lights. Opening up the canopy during the vegetative growth stage can boost photosynthesis and deliver more light to smaller flowers during the flowering stage.

5. More Targeted Spectrum to Reach Higher Yield

During photosynthesis, plants absorb light in the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) region of wavelengths from 400 nm to 700 nm.

The above infographic shows the PAR range for plant photosynthesis. It is important to note that the wavelengths outside of the PAR range are also useful for plant growth. The red radiation (around 700 nm) is the most efficient PAR in the flowering stage, while blue light is essential for plant growth’s vegetative and flowering stages.

HIDs produce their own light spectrum, whereas LEDs give growers the highest flexibility to specify specific wavelengths of light, primarily red and blue. Growers can use full-spectrum lights and tune fixtures for different stages of plant growth. As a result, plants can deliver higher yields as light is more accessible for the plants to use in photosynthesis.

Conclusion to The Benefits of LED Grow Lights

CALIVE commercial LED grow lights aim to provide more energy-efficient and cost-effective lighting solutions with less demanding cooling systems and rebate eligibility for any growing application.

For more product information, please go to CALIVE product page or contact us directly @
HELLO@CALIVE.COM.

Reference

“High Pressure Sodium Lamps”. A Pacific Energy Center Factsheet. Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

“LED Lighting”. Energy Saver.

“FAQ—LED Life Expectancy”. LED Benchmark.

“Basic Information about Visibility”. United States Environmental Protection Agency.