Publications

Light-emitting diode technology status and directions: Opportunities for horticultural lighting

Pattison, P.M.; Tsao, Jeffrey Y.; Krames, M.R.

Light-emitting diode (LED) technology has advanced rapidly over the last decade, primarily driven by display and general illumination applications ("solidstate lighting (SSL) for humans"). These advancements have made LED lighting technically and economically advantageous not only for these applications, but also, as an indirect benefit, for adjacent applications such as horticultural lighting ("SSL for plants"). Moreover, LED technology has much room for continued improvement. In the near-term, these improvements will continue to be driven by SSL for humans (with indirect benefit to SSL for plants), the most important of which can be anticipated to be: expanded chromaticity range and control; higher efficiency at higher current densities; improvements in reliability; intelligent control of chromaticity and intensity; and decreased cost of light. In the long-term, additional improvements may be driven directly by SSL for plants, the most important of which can be anticipated to be: even further expanded chromaticity range and control; and control over the light intensity distribution in space and time. One can even anticipate that plants and artificial lighting (as well as other aspects of a plant's environment) will ultimately coevolve, with plants evolving to thrive in artificial lighting environments, and artificial lighting environments evolving to best serve plants.