August 1, 2018
Research released on LED for horticulture
The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., released a new report on energy and the economic performance of LED horticulture lighting products. The report looked at, “The framework includes the analysis of 11 luminaire-specific metrics and five application-specific metrics, which provide growers with the best available information regarding any given horticultural luminaire’s performance. The LRC then used this framework to test and evaluate 13 horticultural luminaires, including LED, two HPS, and one MH (metal halide) product.” It should be noted, though, the testing did not include growing crops and evaluating lighting based on crop growth. The report can be read at: www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/energy/pdf/HorticulturalLightingReport-Final.pdf.