Skip to main content
Category

Blog

Blog
August 21, 2023

Wasted Water is Wasted Dollars

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is intimately connected to the responsible management of our most valuable resource: water. CEA enables us to cultivate crops efficiently regardless of external factors such as weather and location. However, this advancement comes at a cost, with water usage playing a pivotal role in the equation. Water scarcity often is a…
Blog
August 15, 2023

CEA Water Savings Potential Now Validated

By Rob Eddy and Carmen Azzaretti With our latest USDA-sponsored Benchmarking Report, created in partnership with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Resource Innovation Institute has brought forward validated energy and resource use data from active CEA facilities. The "CEA Energy & Water Benchmarking Report: Establishing Preliminary Benchmarks for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)…
Blog
July 27, 2023

Lighten the Load: Optimizing Your CEA Cultivation Conditions to Improve HVAC-D Use

Working with living organisms requires a careful balance of resource efficiency and crop quality, yet controlled environment agriculture (CEA) companies are under constant pressure to reduce resource use, minimize carbon footprints, and taper costs. By optimizing the environmental parameters within CEA facilities, indoor farm operators have the opportunity to significantly reduce the burden on HVAC-D…
Blog
June 22, 2023

Reduce Light Spillage with Efficient Facility Design

Increasingly, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) operators are investing in high-efficiency technologies, including LED lighting, to control costs and remain competitive in the marketplace, as they know all too well that energy expenses are only outpaced by labor in their operational costs. But those technological efficiencies can be negated if they are not properly implemented. For…
Blog
May 8, 2023

Shining a Light on Efficiency and Productivity Metrics for CEA Lighting

Shining a Light on Efficiency and Productivity Metrics for CEA Lighting High-intensity lighting plays a critical role in promoting plant growth and achieving optimal yields. However, selecting the right lighting system for your CEA facility can be challenging, as there are many different light quality, intensity, and efficiency metrics to consider. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR),…
Blog
March 16, 2023

How to Build Your Controlled Environment Agriculture Facility Design Team

Directed by ownership, architects, contractors, engineers and consultants combine to form a facility design dream team. Once an entity decides to construct a new leafy green-producing greenhouse, or renovate an indoor cannabis cultivation operation, they are embarking on a controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) venture that will involve core team members and dozens of specialists over several…