New Study Finds Plants Do Well in Solar Greenhouses
A new study from North Carolina State University found that plants grow well in solar greenhouses, even with filtered sunlight from semi-transparent cells.
These greenhouses filter out wavelengths of light needed to power the facility. By using semi–transparent cells, wavelengths that the facility does not use for power can go straight to the plants inside.
It was unclear, prior to this study, whether plants could absorb the light that passed through the semi-transparent filters used in these cells.
“We were a little surprised. There was no real reduction in plant growth or health,” says Heike Sederoff, co-corresponding author of the study and Professor of Plant Biology at North Carolina State University. “It means the idea of integrating transparent solar cells into greenhouses can be done.”
The experiment was done using four groups of red lettuce. Researchers provided each group of lettuce with the same temperature as well as the same levels of carbon dioxide, water, and fertilizer.
The research team created a control group that grew under full–spectrum white light. The other heads of lettuce were divided into three groups that grew under different filters. These groups were exposed to different amounts of red and blue wavelengths to see if it influenced their growth.
When compared to the control, researchers could not find any meaningful difference between the groups of lettuce.
“Not only did we find no meaningful difference between the control group and the experimental groups, we also didn’t find any significant difference between the different filters,” says Brendan O’Connor, co-corresponding author of the study and Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University.
To learn more about the study, click here.
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