WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF LED GROW LIGHTS OVER OTHER TYPES OF LIGHTS?

Indoor horticulture adopted HPS (high pressure sodium) and MH (metal halide) HID (high intensity discharge) type lights a long time ago because they were the only systems that delivered a high enough level of light. Even though HID lights were developed for outdoor street lighting applications, they delivered good results when used for indoor growing. However, HID lights suffer from a few drawbacks.  First, they are not the most efficient at delivering PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) and thus lose most of their energy as heat rather than useful light for plants. This results in huge energy bills as well as the need for supplemental cooling of the lights with fans and ducting. Fluorescent lights do a good job for vegetative growth but are not powerful enough for flowering and tend to also produce a great deal of heat. These traditional types of grow lights cannot be designed to deliver the specific light wavelengths that plants absorb the most. LEDs are much more efficient and create much less heat to generate high intensity light for indoor growing. This eliminates the need for supplemental cooling. Also, LED technology makes it possible to select only the light frequencies most absorbed by the plants during each phase of growth. This further reduces energy waste and improves overall growing results. California LightWorks LED grow lights can typically reduce energy costs by 50% or more.