The Power of LED Grow Lights

With the release of hard-hitting documentaries such as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour energy consumption and its relationship to global climate change has become a prominent issue. What people often fail to understand is that the best solutions are not great actions on the part of a few, but rather small actions taken by the many. For example, if everyone in the U.S. were to replace incandescent lights with fluorescent ones, it could eliminate the need for Middle East oil.

LED Grow lights are another example of a small thing that can make a great difference. If you are growing your own food hydroponically, you're already taking a step toward saving the planet. The use of LED Grow Lights allows you to take the next step in reducing your footprint on the planet. Not only to they operate at a fraction of the voltage of conventional bulbs (less than 20 VAC as opposed to 120), but they are free of mercury - a highly toxic metal used in metallic vapor and fluorescent lights.

LED Grow Lights are efficient and economical in other ways as well. Unlike fluorescent bulbs, LED Grow Lights require no ballast that will eventually burn out. They also emit "targeted light;" whereas most standard grow lights emit a broad spectrum of light that includes light wavelength that is useless to plant life, LED Grow Lights emit only that part of the spectrum actually used for photosynthesis. This also means far less waste heat, which requires extra ventilation to carry away. It also means less glare; while this useful light is very bright to plants, humans perceive such light as relatively dim. This also eliminates the need for troublesome shades and reflectors for your hydroponics garden.