WinterGreen Research has published a new study about the market for LED
Agricultural Grow Lights between 2015 to 2021. The market research firm
predicts that the market for LED Grow lights will more than quadruple from its
current level of about $395 million in 2014 to $1.8 billion by 2021. The
company forecasts rapid growth as green house and plant factory growers find
the LED grow lights improve agriculture.
The LEDs are reportedly less costly in terms of total cost of ownership.
Additionally, they allow fine-tuning to maximize growth. The company says that
LED grow lights are also more powerful and efficient than the older generation
high-pressure sodium and metal halide bulb grow lights. In addition to reducing
the electricity bill, they produce less heat, allowing the lights to be closer
to plants. So more plants can be grown in less space.
LED grow lights such as the new Everlight GL-Flora LED lighting fixtures for
agriculture deliver homogenous light distribution at precisely the right
wavelengths and color ratios with hues from blue to red (400- 700nm) for
superior plant growth (resulting from photosynthetic response).
Growth lights permit people to grow food in warehouses and in the home,
dedicating unused space in a manner that is efficient for producing food. The
ability to consistently produce fresh, sanitary food even in urban areas
represents a major shift in how people live and achieve quality of life. The
company says that growth lights increase the density of food production by a
factor of ten.
According to Susan Eustis, the lead author of the team that created the
study, “Solid state electronics brings the same advantages to
agriculture as it has brought to all other industry segments it touches.
Growers are finding that they can achieve a rapid return on investment from
substantially decreasing the energy costs associated with using grow lights,
lengthening the growing season, eliminating chemical contaminants in the food
supply, and significantly decreasing transportation costs for food
production.”
The company anticipates that grow lights will find more and larger markets
among greenhouse operators as people become more health conscious and try to
avoid the deleterious effects of pesticides in their food. The large
warehouse-size plant factories are expected to concentrate on raising
seedlings.
