DETROIT – NextEnergy and RecoveryPark Wednesday announced

Light-Speed USA as the winner of NextChallenge: Lighting, a

lighting technology competition. Light-Speed USA was awarded $80,000 in cash

and in-kind services to support the development and demonstration of a next

generation greenhouse lighting technology system for RecoveryPark.

“NextEnergy

developed NextChallenge: Lighting to source ideas to drive technology innovation

and economic development but this challenge has actually resulted in so much

more,” said Jean Redfield, president and CEO of NextEnergy. “The Light-Speed

approach is unique because multiple organizations teamed up for a great

solution. We’re proud that our lighting challenge is leading to new

partnerships and innovative technology solutions that

will spur industry growth.”

The

Light-Speed USA technology solution combines specialties of three Michigan

entities –LumenFlow‘s advanced

photonic LED and optical engineering technologies, AMF Nano‘s specialty control sensor system,

and Nextek Power Systems‘ direct

current (DC) distribution system for a cost-effective, energy efficient,

reconfigurable lighting system that optimizes plant growth and adapts to

various environmental conditions throughout the year in greenhouses at

RecoveryPark Farms in Detroit.

“There is

huge restaurant demand for local produce grown-to-order,” said Gary Wozniak,

president and CEO of RecoveryPark. “The challenge was to figure out the best

way to mimic Mother Nature by creating an affordable solution to replicate the

amount of natural sunlight produced during the peak growing season so we can

support the demand for the best produce year-round.”

Research has

shown that plant species respond to wavelengths along the light spectrum

differently throughout their growth cycle. LumenFlow’s lighting solution will

allow for precise tuning of LED lights to the preferred spectrum settings by

species and growth stages of plants grown at RecoveryPark Farms. LumenFlow will

custom design lights per plant species to optimize plant sizes and yield as

well as increase harvesting cycles and improve plant quality in color, taste

and nutrients.

AMF Nano

will adapt its nano sensor technology to sense humidity, water flow,

temperature, fertilization levels and photosynthesis levels. The sensors will

provide real-time data to the LED lights directing them to provide light only

when it is needed, ensuring plant health and growth optimization.

Nextek Power

Systems, a pioneer in energy efficient DC power distribution and energy

management for buildings, will implement their DC distribution systems for

RecoveryPark greenhouse operations. Nextek’s system will increase the

profitability of RecoveryPark Farms by taking full advantage of the LEDs and

advanced power distribution to keep the greenhouses as affordable and energy

efficient as possible.

 

While each

piece of the Light-Speed USA solution are proven individually, the integration

of the technologies and collaborated concept needs to be developed.

“Light-Speed

USA is designing and engineering this new greenhouse lighting system and we’ll

be working to help RecoveryPark demonstrate and validate it in a real world

setting,” said Redfield. “The timeline is not yet finalized, but we’re hoping

to start the demonstrations as early as September.”

Demonstrations

of the new technology are planned to be deployed, benchmarked and evaluated at

Recovery Park Farms’ urban farming operations in Detroit.