McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is working with Les Serres St-Laurent to develop LED lighting technology for commercial greenhouses. There goal is to improve growing efficiency while reducing business operational costs in northern greenhouses. Northern greenhouses around the world do not get enough sunlight in the winter and need supplemental lighting to grow plants. The joint research is expected to develop technologies that will enable northern greenhouse growers to become more profitable and competitive. The Canadian Government and GE Canada have each invested $1.3 million for the research project.
Mark Lefsrud, an assistant professor in McGill’s department of Bioresource Engineering, will conduct research on the specific light wavelength plants require for optimum growth. LED lights emit specific colours or wavelengths of light, this reasearch hopes to find the right wavelengths to optimize plant growth. “We’re trying to determine which wavelengths are the best, or what colours are the best to allow our plants to grow. Our goal is to determine what wavelengths and what ratios of colour ranges work best.” says Lefsrud. Lefsrud expects a 25% to 40% energy savings for greenhouses with 50% a possible as LEDs continue to improve. The long-term goal is to allow northern greenhouses to one day grow just about anything under LED lights.
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