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No, but it is possible to convert that sunlight into solar energy and use that to power LEDs. More efficient too; since you can use LEDs that emit the proper sp
by exelius 11y ago
No, but it is possible to convert that sunlight into solar energy and use that to power LEDs. More efficient too; since you can use LEDs that emit the proper spectrum for the plants you're growing.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> No, but it is possible to convert that sunlight into solar energy and use that to power LEDs. More efficient too; since you can use LEDs that emit the proper spectrum for the plants you're growing. Citation needed on the "more efficient" part. Sure, if you assume that the photovoltaics, transmission systems, and LED lights themselves are all 100% efficient (and that there is no energy cost to maintain any of those systems) so that you are transforming the spectrum for free, it would be more efficient, but none of those things are true, and some of them are very far from true.
- exelius 11y agoSorry; I meant "potentially more efficient". Anything relating to vertical farming is decades away from being commercially viable on a large scale; so it's not a crazy assumption that the efficiency of all those systems will be greatly improved by then. Regardless, most plants utilize only a small part of the light spectrum. Photovoltaics can capture a much, much larger spectrum and convert it to electricity. They don't need to be 100% efficient; just efficient enough that they can deliver all the parts of the spectrum that plants use without any of the parts they don't.