Hyperscale horticulture: Bending the power curve

What indoor growers can learn from data centers to overcome environmental challenges and reduce operating costs.

It is a challenging time for agriculture right now with changing climate affecting crop yields and consumers shifting to buying locally grown crops to reduce food miles. In an attempt to control the environment and grow close to the point of consumption, farmers are increasingly turning to indoor or vertical farming, sometimes referred to as controlled environment agriculture (CEA). However, this is beset with challenges relating to operating efficiency in the face of spiraling energy costs. In this article, we will look at how advances in the data center sector could provide lessons that help to address these challenges through new and more efficient approaches to powering and managing growing environment lighting that bring down both installation and operating costs.