Major Green Technology Breakthrough! Metropolis Farms Unveils A New Device That Reduces Electric Cost by 60% and Disrupts The Entire Industry

October 17, 2017

Do you know what a lighting ballast is? Chances are, if you're not involved in a trade that deals with lighting, you probably don't.

You're probably reading this because you saw a headline about a massively disruptive technology that reduces electric costs by 60%. This might be puzzling to some, since most folks don't even know about ballasts in the first place.

Well, we're here to tell you that lighting ballasts are one of the most important technological devices that very few people know about. And we have developed a ballast that can make a significant impact on the amount of energy the world uses.

There are two paths to travel to get the world to a more sustainable future:

1. Increase the percentage of power generated by renewable energy sources

and/or

2. Decrease the amount of energy consumed

We are attacking this problem on the consumption side of the equation. This new technology dramatically decreases the amount of energy that is needed to power most lights. (By the way, we are attacking this problem on the production side too, check out the world's first solar powered indoor farm we're building in South Philadelphia.)

But before we dive into this new breakthrough, since most folks don't know what a ballast is, let's start with the basics.

In the simplest of terms, a ballast's responsibility is to ensure lights work properly and don't burn out immediately.

In more defined terms, per the National Lighting Product Information Program, a "ballast regulates the current to lamps and provides sufficient voltage to start the lamps. Without a ballast to limit its current, a lamp connected directly to a high voltage power source would rapidly and uncontrollably increase its current draw. Within a second the lamp would overheat and burn out. During lamp starting, the ballast must briefly supply high voltage to establish an arc between the two lamp electrodes. Once the arc is established, the ballast quickly reduces the voltage and regulates the electric current to produce a steady light output."

Ballasts are connected to all fluorescent, compact fluorescent, HID, and many commercial LED lights. Regarding LEDs, ballasts are called drivers, but they are effectively the same thing. So whenever you're out and about, know that almost all of the lights you see in commercial or public spaces are connected to a ballast. 

Lighting accounts for 53% of electric usage in U.S. retail buildings. And ballasts are the bridge that enables that power consumption. 

In 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates about 279 billion kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity were used for lighting by the residential sector and commercial sector in the United States. That's 279 million megawatts and does not account for public buildings or streetlamps. 

So lighting is responsible for a massive amount of energy that is consumed.

Beyond the statistics that are directly related to powering the lights, more energy is used by HVAC systems to combat the excessive BTUs (heat) that lighting systems generate. This is a particularly sensitive issue when the temperature needs to be highly regulated, like in an indoor vertical farm.

Currently in our vertical farms, we are using 315W ceramic metal halide bulbs and we have 1 ballast for 1 bulb. For every bulb in our hydroponic farms, there's a ballast regulating the energy necessary for the light to work properly. 

That's typical for most big lighting systems. For example, in another sector, each streetlamp you see illuminated at night is connected to a ballast.

All that said, you're now probably wondering: what's this development that will change the world?

Well, it's a new ballast. A more efficient ballast. One that brings unprecedented breakthroughs in ballast technology.

Here are two facts that will show why this is not hyperbole:

1) This new ballast will reduce total energy consumption in our indoor farms by 60%.

2) We will use 1 ballast to power 8 bulbs.

These results are being verified by a major university's lighting laboratory and certified by a CPA firm.

If you don't understand the game-changing ramifications of those statements, please keep reading!

The most common argument against indoor farming or vertical farming is that it requires too much energy to produce diverse crops. And in light of that argument (pun intended), we've already developed vertical farming systems that can grow diverse crops while still using less energy than other indoor farms that only grow leafy greens, and we have shown that these systems can produce profitable results for farmers.

Now with this new ballast, the energy argument can be totally put to bed. The equation has completely changed and by making these ballasts available to everyone, all indoor vertical farms will be able to reduce their energy consumption dramatically. All businesses and cities will be able to reduce their energy consumption dramatically.

We recently wrote a post on the topic of legal cannabis and how it's going to change the world. We said that due to the technologies being researched and developed to grow cannabis better, there will be emerging technologies that are backwards compatible and enable us to grow foodbetter.

But this technology takes it a step further. By focusing efforts on how to grow anything in a more energy efficient way, a technology was discovered that will enable every industry to operate using less energy.

With our old ballasts, the bulbs in our hydroponic systems required 3 amps and 315W to power them. With this new ballast, they only need 1 amp and 110W. That is far less energy used by the most efficient LED lights, and we still produce full spectrum light so our plants thrive. 

This was me after being told how these ballasts work:

Below are a few other features of this new ballast breakthrough that changes the game:

• There's a massive heat reduction at the bulb from 400 degrees to 150 degrees, which significantly reduces energy cooling loads.

• Remember the Superbowl when the power went out and the lights couldn't be turned on for 34 minutes? That happened because the ballasts and bulbs needed time to cool down and recalibrate the energy flowing into the bulbs. With our new ballast, those lights could have been turned on right away. 

• Before, a ballast could only power a certain kind of light. For example, one type of ballast could power fluorescents, another could power HIDs, while another powers LEDs. This new ballast can power any kind of bulb, simultaneously.

As mentioned earlier, this one ballast can power multiple high usage lights.

And as nature goes, there are indirect consequences from a technological advancement. It just so happens that in this case, we are extremely excited about one consequence in particular. 

Since 1 ballast will effectively replace 8, the economics work in such a way that we will be manufacturing these ballasts in the United States.

We are already working on plans to build a Philadelphia-based manufacturing facility that will provide a significant amount of living-wagejobs to local Philadelphians.

Beyond the manufacturing jobs, there will be a significant amount of work for electricians everywhere as we envision this new technology becoming the norm. Building owners will be able to retrofit their existing light systems with these new ballasts and immediately decrease the amount of energy they use.

To review, this technology can help decrease electric usage by 60%. Considering the 279 billion kWh used for just lighting in the residential and commercial sectors, and that the average residential price per kWh is 12.99 cents, saving over 167 billion kWh is the same as saving over $21.7 billion. Indoor farming for cannabis alone accounts for 1% of the entire country's energy usage, at $6 billion annually, and that number will continue to climb as more states legalize cannabis.

If these ballasts are installed everywhere, think of what $22+ billion could be spent on!

On 10/16, President of Metropolis Farms Jack Griffin unveiled and demonstrated this new ballast technology at Indoor Ag Con alongside Pennsylvania's Secretary of Agriculture, Russel C. Redding. We are working on plans to manufacture these ballasts in Philadelphia and estimate they will be available in 2018. From there, we believe this new ballast will become the new standard not only in indoor vertical farming, but in all commercial lighting. This will have an immense impact on the amount of energy that is used for lighting by decreasing the energy consumed immediately upon installation. This will help the world transition to a more sustainable future. And this will create living-wage jobs in the U.S.

We are incredibly excited about this new breakthrough and hope that you are on board as well. The times they are a changing and indoor agriculture is here to stay, here to create positive change, and here to revamp the broken food system. Join us for the journey.

Let's get lit.

For more information on Metropolis Farms and to see where we plant our roots, read about us here.