In a large facility, these savings can be massive. Not only do operators experience electrical savings on a watts-per-square-foot basis, but because LEDs are more efficient and give off less heat over that same square footage, the resulting HVAC tonnage requirement is also reduced, lowering a facility’s monthly electrical expenditure even further. Increasingly, growers are adjusting the amount of light delivered to cannabis plants at different phases of development, as well as the spectrum of that light within PAR, as part of cultivation automation and crop steering techniques. The LED fixture will produce a greater amount of light with the same amount of energy, and because it runs at a lower temperature that LED fixture can bring PAR right to the leaves, wasting less light.Īs long as that light is within PAR targets, the cannabis plants lit with LEDs will get more of what they need while consuming less electricity. However, their PAR and lumen output might be quite different. Growers are now achieving with a 630-watt LED fixture what they used to achieve with a 1,000-watt HID fixture.įor example, an HID and an LED light each rated 630 watts will actually produce the same amount of heat because they use the same amount of energy, or watts. HIDs use more energy than LEDs to produce the same amount of light. There’s no getting around the fact that HIDs, effective and affordable as they may be, are power hogs. With LED lights, growers can implement stacked systems to make the most efficient use of both vertical and horizontal cultivation space, as well as finesse the inputs needed to maximize any given strain’s yield potential.

Suddenly, growers aren’t limited to placing their lights at least 4-6 feet away from the tender leaves of cannabis plants. It’s not as if one lighting option is better for yields specifically, but LED lights do offer certain advantages for growers who want to maximize the amount of flower per square foot grown.īecause LED lights don’t produce as much heat as incandescent or HID lights, their widespread availability has caused something of a revolution in cultivation facility design. The same is true of a grow that utilizes quality LEDs. LED LightsĪ skilled grower can achieve a strain’s maximum yield potential with quality HIDs-indeed, cannabis cultivators have been doing so for years. By choosing LED lights, growers can also reduce the operating costs of the air conditioning and dehumidification systems. HID lights run notoriously hot, which limits how close they can be situated to plants as well as the HVAC tonnage an operator will need to compensate. That’s because one of the most significant differences between HID and LED lights is how much heat they produce. From a cost standpoint, the benefits of LED can beat out HID relatively quickly when you take the reduced air conditioning requirements into account. LED lights are more expensive than HID up front, but less costly to operate over time when you take into consideration other contributing factors like rebates, energy savings, lamp replacement and ongoing maintenance. They’ve been the near-ubiquitous industry standard for both indoor and greenhouse grows because of their affordability and utility. HIDs have been popular with cultivators for years because they are cheap, sturdy and provide light in a concentration and spectrum compatible with the needs of cannabis plants. Knowing the pros and cons of each lighting category is the first step to making an informed choice for your grow. Now that you know the technical differences between these two types of lights, the next step is to identify which is the best fit for your facility. But advances in LED technology have only recently made possible widespread commercial use of the lights in agricultural and hydroponic settings. LED lights-short for “light-emitting diode”-were invented over a century ago, and NASA has been experimenting with their use as grow lights since the 1980s. For example, HID has become a popular choice for stadium and gymnasium lighting, streetlights, film and theatrical lighting and, of course, agricultural grow lights. They’re popular for all sorts of applications that require a steady stream of bright light spread over a broad area. Not to be confused with incandescent or fluorescent lights, HID lights work by creating an electrical arc between two electrodes in a bulb filled with an ionized noble gas. But today, LED lights are transforming the way cultivation spaces are structured-literally-by making vertical grows and more efficient use of space a real option for the first time. For decades, high-intensity discharge (HID) lights were the name of the game. Whether you’re growing indoors or in a greenhouse, lighting equipment selection is one of the most important decisions a cannabis producer can make.

Hid vs halogen power consumption