Pink Light Helps To Improve Indoor Farming Efficiency

Proper lighting is crucial for indoor farming. Conventional indoor greenhouses are using white fluorescent light to mimic sunlight, which incur a high energy cost. A new study, led by Prof. Cary Mitchell at Purdue University, showed that photosynthesis mechanism has peak absorption at red and blue wavelengths, which supplying the majority of the light needed for plant growth. The combination of red and blue color gives you a pink environment.

Pharmaceutical company Caliber Biotherapeutics are already using red and blue low-energy LED lights in a 150,000 square foot indoor farm, where they grow plants for clinical and medical use. They observed a lower energy cost and 20% increase in growth rate after switching to the "pink" light.

They are few advantages of using LEDs in indoor farming:

(1) Precise red and blue wavelength.

(2) Lower energy consumption.

(3) Higher growth rate.

(3) Lower light loss as they are cooler, can be placed close to the plants to maximize exposing and minimize wasting.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/21/185758529/vertical-pinkhouses-the-future-of-urban-farming