Decrease in the number of global sunshine increases the demand for LED lighting in plant factories

According to statistics, the number of days of sunshine in some parts of the northern hemisphere in 2011 was reduced compared with previous years. Taking Taiwan as an example, the number of sunshine hours in the recent period was the lowest in 61 years. Under such circumstances, the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Chinese mainland have increased their demand for plant lighting that can supplement the lack of sunlight, especially in Japan after the 311 major earthquake in 2011, and even more so for plant factories and plant lighting. in the past.

Extreme Weather and Global Sunlight Decrease Push Plant Plants At this stage, the global climate change is fierce, and the frequency of extreme weather is more frequent than in modern times. From 2011 to 2012, the winter in the northern hemisphere is severely cold, and in 2011, the cloud cover rate and rainfall intensity The reduction of sunshine hours is a detrimental factor to agricultural development. Plant lighting and plant factories have become another way of making up for the discussion among the industry officials.

The Japanese central government and local governments (county towns) began to coach local agricultural unions and industry companies in 2011 to develop plant factories. The LED lighting was used to strengthen the production of insufficient sunshine and the impact of cultivated land. Ploughing and other ways to make up.

The Japanese government has proposed a subsidy policy for plant factories since 2009, totaling 14.6 billion yen (about 9.6 billion yuan from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and about 5 billion yuan from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) for a plant factory grant, and an additional 1.04 billion yen in 2010. High-value added technology development for fully-artificial plant factories. Thanks to the implementation of the subsidy policy, the number of plant factories has gradually increased from 50 in 2009 to more than 100 specifications, including artificial light source and solar light type plant factories.

The main reason for the popularity of plant factories in Japan is that the cost of agricultural land is high.

2, summer high temperature, high light, cheap environmental control.

3. Resources and related equipment are easier to obtain, which is also the main reason for the development of plant factories.

4. There are certain markets in Japan for hydroponic cultivation of leafy vegetables in greenhouses. Plants are grown in plant factories and consumers can fully accept them.

5. Consumers have a large demand for high-quality vegetables and are willing to purchase them at high prices.

6. The efficiency of related power-consuming equipment is improved, especially the efficiency of light sources and air-conditioning equipment has been greatly improved.

7. The Japanese government vigorously promotes and promotes a high percentage (50%) of subsidies, and the recipients are not divided into enterprises or farmers.

Plant lighting is not limited to LED light sources, fluorescent light sources also have a certain status, but plant lighting is not only the use of LED light sources, the earliest and planned to provide plants with a specific wavelength of light source is the first use of fluorescent lamps, and has been developed for some time , And more energy-efficient, more able to specify the wavelength of LED lighting, taking into account the advantages of the combination of a variety of wavelengths can be applied to become the new darling of plant lighting sources. At the same time, the life of the light source is longer, the number of replacements and replacements is less than that of fluorescent lamps, and the long-term use of power-saving benefits is also obvious.

There are many existing plant factories in Japan, from Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima, and the Kanto region. The forms of plant factories and plants range from vegetables, flowers, and cash crops.

The status of LED light source manufacturers in each plant factory 3E LED can use 8 red light * 8 green light * 8 blue light control wavelengths. For the wavelength of strawberry growth, there are ways to simply use 8 red light * 0 green light * 0 blue light, but there are other ways. Thanks to the beautiful and large strawberries grown from the 3E LED plant growth lights, it won the first prize of Tokyo International Raspberry Expo.

The white LED (blue LED plus red, green and fluorescent powder) is used for the interpretation. The color rendering performance can be as high as 85, and the color temperature can be flexibly between 2800K and 7000K. Hing Hing believes that white LEDs can more closely approach the true color of the sun to meet plant growth needs. At present, Taiwan’s wild vegetable workshops and Da Ye University have adopted plant growth lights that have been revamped, and the institutions under the China Agricultural Science Association also adopted the revitalized plant growth lights in 2012. Currently, in the development of the Japanese market, Hing Hing and Hitachi Hi-Technologies strategic alliances have increased brand awareness.

EverLight uses RGB LEDs to develop the light sources needed for LED plant lighting. Thanks to the unusual climate change in China and the United States, Everlight has already received orders from China Agricultural Science Council, an American herb research institute, and European farm implement manufacturers. In 2011, Everlight and Philips reached agreements to develop plant factories. I believe in the future, there will be a better system collocation scheme for LED plants in plant factories.

German manufacturer Osram showed 20 656nm red LEDs, 12 455nm blue LEDs, 12 6500K white LEDs, and 12 green LEDs.

Delta also introduced LED lighting products for plants and is optimistic about the future development of the market. The planning of agricultural lighting, plant factories, and the cultivation of crops with high economic value are also new trends in some projects currently on the market.

Japanese manufacturer Showa Denko proposed the light source requirements for plant lighting, including high luminous efficiency, PPFD need to be higher than 130-150μmol/(m^2*s), and can provide stable PPFD, the light source distance must maintain a moderate distance. According to Showa Denko, the efficiency at the center wavelength of 660 nm is the strongest, and they are actively developing the most appropriate cultivation method. The future results are worth looking forward to.

At present, artificial light source plant factories still mainly use fluorescent lamps, but due to the lack of red light, LED light sources can relatively make up for their deficiencies. It is believed that the LED penetration rate will continue to increase under the declining LED prices and power-saving incentives. In 2011, the degree of inquiry and shipment of LED light sources for plant lighting has grown in real terms. In 2012, orders for plant lighting sources received by manufacturers have also increased.

At present, we have learned that in addition to Taiwan, Japan, and European and American manufacturers, Chinese LED manufacturers are also actively engaged in the development of plant lighting. After all, plant plants have not been used in China for a long time. Traditional plant lighting has not yet stood on the market. When it is stable, LED plant lighting will enter the market strongly, and China is a big country in the world of agriculture and a big country in the world of LED industry.

The market capacity of LED plant lighting in China will increase significantly in the next three years. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the technical difficulties of the two types of monochromatic light that are commonly used by Chinese manufacturers are mainly reflected in the fact that the light requirements of each plant are not the same, which makes many small companies unable to cope with the adjustment according to the plants. The wavelength of light, knowledge, accuracy, and theoretical analysis, practice, and reliable long-term test data are all very low. Many LED plant lighting companies do not know the wavelength of light that a particular plant needs, so it seems that China's indigenous plants use LED lighting and there is still a learning path to take.

Since the Japanese market is more advanced and more active in plant lighting, Japan has estimated that the output value of the LED lighting market for plants can reach 3,000 billion yen a year in 2020. The scale of the market is about 40 billion yuan a year. The output value of the overall plant breeding will be 3 trillion yen, and the growth strength should not be underestimated.