New horti lighting requirement guidelines under consideration

Added on 11 April 2022

Tags

New horti lighting requirement guidelines under consideration

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released the first draft of Version 3.0 of its Technical Requirements for Horticultural Lighting. Scheduled to take effect in January 2023, the policy establishes new performance thresholds and other prerequisites horticultural fixtures must meet for inclusion on the DLC's Horticultural Lighting Qualified Products List (QPL).

Supporting the advancement of high-quality, energy-efficient lighting in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), this major revision to the DLC's Horticultural Technical Requirements also introduces a draft surveillance testing policy with a proposed effective date of October 2023.

The DLC is accepting comments on its Draft Technical Requirements for Horticultural Lighting V3.0 until May 12, 2022. Comments should be submitted by email to comments@designlights.org using the DLC's online comment form. Stakeholder input will inform the next iteration of the policy, which is expected this summer.

Supporting the Industry

"As the number of controlled environment agriculture operations across North America continues to rise, the DLC is pleased to support the energy efficiency and lighting quality needs of this vibrant industry," says DLC Executive Director and CEO Christina Halfpenny. "These proposed changes will strengthen the DLC's Horticultural Lighting Program, enabling growers to keep up with cutting-edge technologies that improve crop yields and minimize energy consumption."

Horticultural lighting is one of the fastest growing segments of the electric load for many utilities, and the U.S. Department of Energy has recommended that growers transition their lighting to all LED technology, which would cut electricity usage by at least 40% and save operators approximately $240 million.