The benefits of growing your crops in an indoor facility are obvious: you can cultivate year-round and better control the environment. However, there are inherent drawbacks to each type of cultivation facility.
Indoor agriculture today is primarily ruled by three different types of designs: HPS, LED, and mixed light greenhouses. Each of these designs has significant flaws that reduce the viability and quality of crops, harm the environment, and drive heightened energy costs.
What if your indoor grow facility was designed from the get-go to bypass these major flaws?
That’s where SunVentive Zero™ comes in.
Flaws in Common Grow Facility Setups
HPS light facilities
HPS light facilities are a common conventional choice for indoor cultivation. This facility type usually employs 1000-watt bulbs. While the cost of the bulbs is relatively inexpensive when compared to LEDs, they are highly inefficient and give off a great deal of heat, heat that adds stress and cost in running massive HVAC systems, heat that is the single largest contributor to crop failure. Additionally, the quality and photosynthesis-driving power of HPS lights degrade rapidly. In fact, most growers replace these bulbs at least three times per year. Most importantly, HPS light facilities require enormous amounts of energy and produce a limited spectrum of light. All this combines to increase energy costs, waste and reduce the overall quality and viability of your crops.
- Demand extensive amounts of energy
- Expensive to upkeep
- Generate high amounts of heat
- Limited spectrum of light
LED lighting facilities
LED lights are somewhat more efficient than their traditional HPS light indoor cultivation facility counterpart. In the past, LED lights were touted for the amount of energy they save, so it is no surprise that LED lighting facilities were initially touted as the best way to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. However, LEDs are more expensive, and cultivators and scientists have come to the realization that to drive photosynthesis, even LEDs need to use large amounts of energy. Consequently, a quick look at the industry shows that the best LEDs are using 700, 800, and even 1050 watts to reach the appropriate level of lumens (a measurement of brightness) needed to drive photosynthesis. As a result, LEDs neither cut up-front costs nor reduce your overall energy footprint.
- Very expensive to install
- Requires many lights to be effective
- Demands more energy overall
Mixed light greenhouses
These greenhouses are large polycarbonate facilities designed to house plants year-round. Today, these greenhouses make up about a third of the indoor cultivation facilities in operation.
Greenhouses are cost-effective to build, but the infrared and ultraviolet radiation that is allowed to pass through the polycarbonate material is the main cause of crop failure, as IR and UV are the quintessential generators of greenhouse gases. The answer that cannabis cultivation facility designers have for this built-in problem is to reduce the amount of light that passes through the greenhouse skin to as little as 85% in order to attempt to control the heat buildup. They also build the facilities with roof structures as much as twenty feet or more above the floor in an effort to sequester the massive heat and humidity that greenhouses generate. These measures are inadequate, and mixed light greenhouses experience the highest rates of failure in the industry.
- Polycarbonate plastics increase heat retention
- Increased risk of mold and mildew
- Highest crop failure rate in the industry
The SunVentive Zero™ Solution
SunVentive Zero™ brings full-spectrum, natural sunlight indoors, allowing cultivators to drive photosynthesis with supplemental LEDs only used sparingly; dramatically reducing energy costs, eliminating the main causes of crop failure, and creating a healthier environment for your crops and your employees. SunVentive Zero™ marries several patented technologies with strategic facility design to deliver an unparalleled cultivation process that harnesses the power of the sun. In doing so, SunVentive Zero™ produces the fullest expression of the cannabinoids and terpenes, even more so than outdoor plants due to the controlled environment indoor cultivation offers. Truly, SunVentive Zero™ combines the best of indoor cultivation with the best of outdoor cultivation, with the problems of neither.
- Cut energy costs by as much as 75 percent
- Elminates the main causes of crop failure
- Brings natural, full-spectrum sunlight for healthier plants and healthier employees
Solatube™ daylight devices
Every SunVentive Zero™ design incorporates Solatube™ tubular daylighting systems, a polycarbonate tubular daylighting device that uses three patented technologies to absorb and dissipate UV, reflect IR, and bring full-color spectrum, natural sunlight indoors essentially unaltered. These devices bring not just the sun's natural light, they also drive photosynthesis with the Photosynthetically Active Radiation(PAR) plants use to grow,. And they bring it into an indoor space with little to no heat transfer. The result is an energy-efficient breakthrough in indoor cultivation lighting systems. These technological breakthroughs allow SunVentive Zero™ designs to cut energy costs by 40 to 70 percent.
Heat reduction
SunVentive Zero™ lighting systems also result in little to no heat transfer, eliminating heat build-up, and eliminating the main cause of crop failure. Little to no heat transfer also means less need for enormous HVAC systems, and the associated energy demands needed to run them, further slashing energy costs and reducing wasteful systems that put a strain on the environment and increase the carbon footprint of your facility.
Strategic lighting system design
When lights are necessary, SunVentive Zero™ incorporates a strategy that maximizes efficiency and keeps energy usage to a minimum. By marrying patented intelligent lighting software with a design that leverages natural sunlight, SunVentive Zero™ facilities use sunlight to turn off your lights. In other words, we only turn the lights on when we have to, and then, only as much as needed as per the light recipes our software designers build with your input. That means lower energy costs, less heat, a reduced environmental footprint, and healthier crops.
