Greenbeams vs Gavita (or most any DE HPS)
I'm probably starting a sh*t storm with this, but this is why CMH in general and Greenbeams in particular do make sense from an economic standpoint in a commercial setting. Given the assumptions in the linked spreadsheet, GBs pay off in less than a year.
Of course many will challenge the assumptions, so for the sake of argument I assumed no yield-per-cycle advantage with a 5% cycle reduction to show that pay back. These assumptions are more than realistic based on the anecdotal accounts online. More realistically, I think there will be an increase in yield-per-cycle, but this is less certain.
This doesn't factor in cooling costs or luminaire efficiency. In terms of photosynthetic efficiency (μmoles per joule) the DE HPS wins. Since it (HPS) emits more infrared though, it requires more room cooling to maintain leaf temp relative to ambient temp.
All other things equal, CMH and some of the white spectrum COBs shorten cycles reflected in the model assumptions relative to HPS. Phaeton corrected somebody when they claimed that CMH shortened cycles. He pointed out that it is probably more correct to say that HPS lengthens cycles relative to the other lighting techs. Either way, the ROI is there. Let the flaming begin, lol!
I'm probably starting a sh*t storm with this, but this is why CMH in general and Greenbeams in particular do make sense from an economic standpoint in a commercial setting. Given the assumptions in the linked spreadsheet, GBs pay off in less than a year.
Of course many will challenge the assumptions, so for the sake of argument I assumed no yield-per-cycle advantage with a 5% cycle reduction to show that pay back. These assumptions are more than realistic based on the anecdotal accounts online. More realistically, I think there will be an increase in yield-per-cycle, but this is less certain.
This doesn't factor in cooling costs or luminaire efficiency. In terms of photosynthetic efficiency (μmoles per joule) the DE HPS wins. Since it (HPS) emits more infrared though, it requires more room cooling to maintain leaf temp relative to ambient temp.
All other things equal, CMH and some of the white spectrum COBs shorten cycles reflected in the model assumptions relative to HPS. Phaeton corrected somebody when they claimed that CMH shortened cycles. He pointed out that it is probably more correct to say that HPS lengthens cycles relative to the other lighting techs. Either way, the ROI is there. Let the flaming begin, lol!
