• GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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    9 hours ago

    Let’s assume the energy for lighting comes from solar. Panels are only 20% effective. Now your vertical farm needs 5x the space of a basic farm, and you still have to pay for power instead of using free sunlight. There is some video on YouTube from a salt lake city university professor who works for nasa on growing plants in space about this topic.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Consumer panels are up to 23.5% now, and you can get bifacial cells that can boost that by up to 30%, so up to around 30.55%

      Also the light is bouncing around that room, not bouncing off and then back into the sky like it would from the sun, and it’s not necessarily all full spectrum, it’s the spectrums the plants need, also reducing power compared to what the sun gives it.

      Edit: Making shit up now, but what if photosynthesis only needs 30% of the spectrum, and the bifacial panels are 30% it might even be near equal.