The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 8, aimed at helping growers and other stakeholders learn the facts about LED lighting, while debunking common misconceptions about the technology and its effectiveness.
"Mythbusting! Horticultural LED Lighting" will provide webinar participants with valuable advice and perspectives from an array of industry leaders, including:
Kasey Holland, Manadjè pwogram ekleraj ortikultur DLC
Leora Radetsky, DLC Senior Lighting Syantis
Erico Mattos, Direktè Egzekitif Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering Consortium (GLASE).
Lauren Morlino, Evergreen Consulting Group's Technical Manager for controlled environment agriculture, emerging technologies, and underserved communities
John Wilson, Direktè Fondatè Fernhill Shopworks, yon konpayi rechèch sou mache ak estrateji k ap sèvi sèvis piblik yo ak endistri ekleraj la.
"Lighting is a crucial factor for optimizing growth in controlled-environment agriculture. Unfortunately, misconceptions abound regarding the effectiveness of horticultural LEDs, thwarting widespread adoption of a technology capable of significantly reducing electricity consumption and driving energy savings," says DLC Technical Director Stuart Berjansky. "As horticultural lighting accounts for an increasing share of electric load for many utilities, our panel will separate myths from facts and address growers' concerns regarding the use of LED lighting solutions."
The webinar will cover topics such as LED lighting performance, smart lighting, and the general feasibility of LED lighting in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA). The DLC's goal is to help growers recognize and discard outdated thinking about LEDs, differentiate the pros and cons of LEDs vs. high-pressure sodium lamps; and explore the performance of LED lighting in CEA today, as well as capabilities expected in the future.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last year reported that U.S. horticultural lighting installations consumed 9.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2019, up from about 5.9 TWh in 2017. The DOE noted that if all indoor horticultural lighting today was converted to LED technology, annual horticultural lighting consumption would decrease to 6.3 TWh, representing energy savings of 34 percent or 350 million. In the face of these statistics, the webinar supports the DLC's continuing efforts to promote wider adoption of high performance, energy efficient products in indoor horticultural operations. The latest version of the DLC's Horticultural Lighting Technical Requirements (V2.1) will go into effect in September.
