Cannabis growers looking to increase the sustainability of their operations should start with their lighting setup.
According to Andrew Mahon, owner and director of cultivation at Denver-based Veritas Fine Cannabis, lighting is the easiest way to increase the sustainability of cultivation operations.
One thing that sustainable producers have in common is: Cannabis and hemp growers who use greenhouses should think about LED lights to increase sustainability through illumination.
Compared to more prevalent lights like high-pressure sodium lighting, they consume less energy and have a longer lifespan.
According to David Kessler, chief science officer of Billerica, Massachusetts-based Agrify Corp., which produces hardware and software for indoor cannabis planters, lighting has a significant impact on how successful indoor producers fare and is one of their largest cost centers.
“People truly have no reason not to use LEDs going forward,”
Other low-tech methods are also available for farmers of hemp and marijuana in greenhouses, such as quantum-dot film, which is applied over the greenhouse’s protective layer and alters the light spectrum.
According to the effect, plant growth and yield are improved.
Increase in LED use
High-intensity discharge (HID) lights have dominated cannabis grow rooms for a long time.
For one, they are less expensive. Additionally, growers believed that LED technology had not yet caught up in terms of its capacity to generate higher yields.
However, LED advancements have given rise to farmers reporting competitive outcomes.
The sole caveat? They can cost up to six times as much as HID lights, based on some estimates.
According to Graham Farrar, president and chief cannabis officer of Santa Barbara, California-based Glass House Brands, the expense is justified.
He continued, “LED lights are substantially more efficient in converting energy to light.”
Additionally, LEDs use less energy to cool grow rooms since they produce less heat than HID lights.
Farrar also emphasizes the longer life of LEDs.
HID lights are generally made with hazardous elements like mercury and require frequent replacement. Depending on usage, LEDs have a long lifespan.
For Farrar, LED lights fulfill all the requirements: They are beneficial to the environment, businesses, and resource usage.
Rebates
Although the majority of the company’s grow facility still uses high-pressure sodium lamps, Veritas is presently experimenting with LEDs.
The reasons the business should transition to LEDs, according to Mahon, are now “out of the bag.” However, he wants to perform testing to make sure the quality level is equivalent before spending thousands to make the switch.
The business recently finished pruning its first crop.
The crop will be sent to a lab after curing to be tested for potency, terpene content, and overall production.
Mahon expects to save thousands of dollars on HVAC bills alone.
Cost is the main barrier to greater adoption of LEDs.
According to Mahon, the price of LEDs can range from 20 to 150 percent higher than that of HPS lights, depending on the retailer.
Cannabis businesses there should approach local energy providers for subsidies.
According to Elizabeth Lee, occupational health, safety, and environment manager at Veritas, “energy firms are on our side with this.”
(For information on how to avoid typical errors when looking for LED rebates, see this tutorial.)
According to Lee, marijuana businesses that use LEDs can submit invoices to energy suppliers and obtain rebates for the cost of the purchase.
She declared, “I don’t see lights ever going away as long as cannabis is grown indoors.”
“In order to grow in a more sustainable way, we’re going to have to switch to LEDs in the future.”
Quantum pixel
Kessler thinks that marijuana and hemp greenhouse growers could profit from how quantum-dot technology interacts with ambient light for businesses who don’t want to spend the money on LEDs.
The fact that this technology doesn’t require energy is its best feature.
Although Kessler acknowledged that the technology was still in its infancy and that the verdict was still out on its overall efficacy, in theory, quantum-dot technology might be used in conjunction with supplementary lighting to improve the efficiency of natural illumination.
He noted that since hemp is grown on a larger scale in larger greenhouses, quantum-dot film would be ideal for the industry.
He continued, “The cannabis industry begins with the plant, and our plant originates from our earth.
