The Need for Optimal Energy Use

Optimal use of energy is essential to save the environment. The production of energy has its drawbacks: air pollution, increased global warming, radioactive waste, ecosystem destruction, etc. Thus, it is important not to waste energy. Were this is not sufficient, the continuous increase in electricity costs alone makes energy conservation crucial.

In the horticultural field, the need for optimization of energy used for artificial lighting is huge. Indeed, plants do not react to light the same way as human eye does. However, lamps used in greenhouses are still all based on technologies designed to light human activity, such as high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lamps.

TI Smart Horticultural Lighting Products Revolutionize the Greenhouse Lighting Industry

TI Smart horticultural products are designed specifically for plant growth. They only consume the energy needed to emit light useful to plants. TI Smart products offer innovative horticultural lighting free of the typical disadvantages of HPS and MH lamps, such as an important heat production, considerable energy loss in the ballast, short useful life and energy wasted in non-effective wavelengths of light for plants.

Human Eye vs Plants' Perception of Light

The lumen is often used to measure the luminous flux of light sources. It is a unit of measure which converts radiometric power in function of the human eye’s sensitivity. For example, one watt of light at 555nm (green) gives 683 lumens, while the same watt of light at 450nm (blue) only gives 25.9 lumens. As a result, for the same watt of light, our eye has the impression that the green is much more intense than the blue. Thus, use of the lumen as a unit is useless in horticulture.

Like the human eye, photosynthetic pigments react differently to each wavelength of light. However, their sensitivity is very different from the human eye as can be seen on the following graphs:

The graph on the right side shows the curve of the photosynthetic action spectrum according to the wavelength. This curve varies from one plant to another but remains almost identical in the same category of plant. It is basically from this curve that we can deduce plant needs.

By these two graphs, we can clearly see that plants and the human eye are not sensitive to the same wavelengths. This difference is the reason why plants require lighting adapted to their special requirements.

TI Smart Products’ Light Spectrum

By their monochromatic lighting, light-emitting diodes (LED) permit the creation of custom light spectrum. Prior to their invention, it was not possible to create so precise light spectrum. Moreover, before the invention of the high-power LED, it was almost impossible to reach a light intensity sufficient for a given application without using a disproportionate quantity of LEDs. For example, the light intensity of only one high-power LED is approximately the same as 75 5mm LEDs, as shown in the following graph:

Because the technology of high-power LEDs has been developed recently (1999), it was nearly impossible, a few years ago, to use LEDs for plant growth as the luminous power was insufficient and poorly adapted to plant needs. TI Smart horticultural lighting products are innovative. To create such products, our agronomists had to develop a special spectral recipe using a combination of the best LEDs available on the market as well as special proprietary LEDs in order to achieve our unequaled growth results in all phases, from growth to flowering.

We also had to develop the necessary electronics and thermodynamics technologies in order to obtain sufficient LED density while obtaining the maximum light intensity, effectiveness and lifespan. Only by minimizing ballast energy loss and through the use of a protective glass that transmits more than 98% of light, our products are able to achieve market leading maximum energy effectiveness.

The Result : More Money in your Pockets

While TI Smart products are good for your crop, wait to see how good they will be on your electricity bill! With such a low power consumption, replacing your old HPS and MH lamps will significantly reduce your electricity expenses. Next time you receive an electricity increase, you'll be glad you chose a TI Smart product. You'll now be faced with a tough decision: should you use those savings to finance more growth projects or to reduce crop cycles by lighting more hours per day? Your call!