Professional Marijuana Grower November-December 2017 Issue | Page 6

Feature Article
by Eric Hopper
The Most Effi cient New
Technology in Artifi cial Lights
T
he artifi cial light source in an indoor marijuana
garden is arguably the single most important
piece of equipment in terms of a garden’s over-
all effi ciency. It is the artifi cial light source that
single handedly powers photosynthesis in an indoor
garden. In other words, the lighting system(s) used has
the most infl uence over plant growth in the garden and
the garden’s overall yield. The lighting system(s) is also
the piece of equipment that usually draws the most
electricity.
After a grower has harvested a crop, he or she can
measure the garden’s effi ciency in a ratio of the weight
of dried marijuana and the total electrical draw (watts).
This effi ciency calculation can also help a grower
determine their return on total investment. After all, once
the initial cost of the equipment has been recouped, the
effi ciency of a garden’s lighting system is the main de-
termining factor in a grower’s return on investment for
each garden cycle. As more and more commercial can-
nabis operations are established, there will be an even
greater importance placed on effi ciency. As competition
increases, growers who want to stay in the game will
have to use the most effi cient lighting systems available.
6 • Professional Marijuana Grower
The three newest technologies that offer heightened
effi ciency and performance for growing marijuana are:
induction lighting systems, double ended HID systems
with square wave technology, and chips on board
(COB) LED systems.
Induction Lighting Systems (Fluorescents
and Sulfur Plasmas)
Induction lighting or electrode-less lamps are gas dis-
charge lamps in which the power used to generate light
is transferred from the outside of the lamp’s envelope
to the gas inside the lamp via an electronic magnetic
fi eld. This is in contrast to most typical gas discharge
lamps which utilize internal electrodes connected to the
power supply. There are two signifi cant advantages of
induction lighting. The fi rst is extended lamp life due to
the absence of internal electrodes (generally the limiting
factor in lamp life). The second advantage is the ability
to use alternative light generating substances of higher
effi ciency that would otherwise react with the internal
electrodes in typical gas discharge lamps.
November/December 2017