Let there be light

Photo courtesy of Untill

Untill is an agtech vertical farm company in Hudson, Massachusetts, that grows a variety of leafy greens and strawberries. Founder and CEO Ahmad Zameli describes their farms that “live inside warehouses” that have been retrofitted for their needs with the help of a research partnership with Northeastern University.

Part of that retrofitting includes installing those warehouses with lights from Fluence. Installing Fluence’s lights wasn’t a decision Zameli and his company made lightly.

When it came to picking which lighting supplier to partner with, Zameli knew they had to make their decision carefully, based on which supplier would help Untill be more efficient.

“Based on our research and comparison with other major lighting suppliers, Fluence helps us cut down more than 20% on power costs,” Zameli says. “That saving comes from direct lighting power consumption; there is an even bigger impact when it comes to HVAC cooling costs, since Fluence lights are significantly more efficient.”

According to Zameli, Fluence’s lights cut costs because they are highly effective at converting energy to plant-usable light instead of wasteful heat, are easy and quick to install and have a great lifespan. On top of that, Zameli also credits Fluence’s customer service team for their understanding of grower needs and ability to help.

After examining their lighting options, Zameli and his team found that Fluence had the best to offer. “Fluence’s RAY series lights were a great match on paper,” he explains. “We evaluated a handful of lighting suppliers in our research farm and ran many trials to really put them all to the test with a variety of crops. The RAY series really outperformed all other candidates. We then outfitted both our research farms with Fluence RAZR Modular lights to continue testing for commercial operations before we deployed the same model lights for our large commercial facility in Hudson, Massachusetts.”

For any grower wondering if they should change what lighting they use, Zameli has three words: “Make the switch!”

“Don’t think too hard about the upfront capital requirements because making the change will more than pay itself off,” he explains. “Growers are usually intimidated by the ticket price of switching and instead, keep their less efficient lights. Not only is that going to eat into your margins, but older and not as well-built lights will fail quicker and replacement at that point will come at a larger cost of lost harvests.”