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by Someone 2304 days ago
There is research on whether solar arrays would be a net benefit. Those cells would catch most of the sun’s light, turn it into electricity to power the LEDs that have wave lengths that are better matched to what the plants need.

A variation of that only catches the sun’s green light and uses it to power pink/red LEDs (https://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/solar-smart-gree...)

1 comments

Mass produced photovoltaic is 22% efficient. LEDs tuned to the plant are 50% efficient. Net efficiency 11%. Now you need 9 times as much land to grow the same number of plants.
Plants reject a lot of the visible spectrum. The question is, can you make up for the losses in solar panels by giving plants light that they can use more efficiently?