Inside the sprawling warehouses where some indoor farming startups grow food under artificial light, custom “light recipes” adjust the color of LEDs to help plants grow faster. Even with efficient LED bulbs, the systems still use a huge amount of energy. But new technology designed for traditional greenhouses can manipulate sunlight in a similar way, without any use of electricity at all.
“Our approach is, basically, let’s just tweak sunlight—let’s improve sunlight,” says Hunter McDaniel, founder and CEO of UbiQD, the advanced materials startup that makes the new greenhouse tech. The company uses quantum dots, the same nano-size crystals that are used to emit color in TVs and monitors. Today, UbiQD announced that it is partnering with Nanosys, a quantum dot manufacturer that usually works in consumer electronics, to scale up production of its product, called UbiGro. (The company is also working on other new quantum dot products, including windows that can harvest sunlight to make solar power.)
On greenhouse roofs, a film filled with quantum dots shifts UV light from the blue portion of the spectrum to red. The orange glow that the film emits helps plants grow. “We make the color of light coming from the sun more consistent and more dialed in to be basically what that optimal spectrum is, but passively, without any electricity,” McDaniel says. “So it does ultimately boost crop yield. But it’s an energy savings as well, because it’s an alternative to lighting.”Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.