A new, broad-spectrum light that mimics sunlight more closely than others is being tested in Canada, the Edmonton Journal reports. The light is manufactured by Edmonton-based G2V Optics and was originally designed to test solar cells at the University of Alberta.
Michael Taschuk, the developer of the light, previously managed a team of researchers at the University of Alberta. The lights have been in use at Endless Sky Canna Corp in British Columbia, Canada.
Endless Sky’s CEO Travis George reports that the lights are twice as effective as other grow lights the company has used.
“It’s an Alberta-manufactured product that exceeds all other lighting on the market … It kicked their asses.” — Travis George, via Edmonton Journal
Taschuk’s business partner, Ryan Tucker, was also on Taschuk’s University of Alberta research team. Tucker says that plants appreciate the complex, variable spectrum light that the G2V lights provide. Unlike many other lights, the G2V lights can have their spectrum tuned to match the sunlight of specific regions of the globe.
“It is a grand piano where you can play songs to your plant. The effect of spectral combinations are those tunes. Different plants like different versions of those, so you can actually locate the one that is going to make your plant the happiest and grow, as compared to what’s basically an air horn that you can turn on, turn off, or make it louder or maybe a bit dimmer and that’s all you can do.” — Ryan Tucker, in the report
Taschuk is hoping to make G2V profitable by focusing on the new Canadian adult-use cannabis market but he hopes the grow lights can help a wide variety of indoor farming.