AFSD Model Overview

Light technology as a climate resilient technology

Today, agriculture faces various circumstances. Some of these include weather extremes and
climate disasters such as El Nino and La Nina, which greatly impact our agriculture. This is why, available
and innovative technologies are being developed to enhance resilience and facilitate adaptive functions.
One of which is the light technology.

Technology portrays a significant part in the agricultural industry as it paves the way to make
difficult things possible and easier. The use of light technology is not really new to us. We have been familiar
with this ever since, but only as a factor of germination of plants. Years have passed, knowledge about light
technology has expanded yielding to innovative ways such as using light emitting diodes (LED) lights, and
remote sensing technologies.

Why is light technology climate-smart?

Based on the definition of what a climate smart technology is, light technology can be considered
climate-smart because it alleviates the contribution of agriculture to climate changes, maintains
productivity to heighten food and nutritional security, and enhances the ability to adapt to climate changes.
In particular, more efficient technologies toward enhancing climate-resilient agriculture are highly
commended such as the light emitting diodes (LED) cultivation systems, space based remote sensing data,
and Geographical Information System(GIS) for climate smart agriculture.

Light emitting diodes (LED) lights are now widely used not only to provide lighting in airports, offices,
and streets but also in other modern technologies like smartphones and computers. In addition to this, LED
lights also serve a purpose in the greenhouse settings.

Since plants demand the appropriate measures (for instance, right temperature and lighting) in order to
thrive and grow well in a greenhouse, studies have been aimed on how LED lights can be used for the
optimization and further enhancement of greenhouse environment for the plants. One of the main
advantages it offers is its long lifespan unlike other lighting technologies. It also does not instantly stop
functioning, instead it gradually loses brightness over time which serves as a warning that it is nearing its
end, giving you enough time to replace new lights. Another reason why LED lights are effective in a
greenhouse is because plants can only achieve its highest efficiency of chlorophyll absorption when
exposed to specific wavelengths such as red and blue lighting colors, and LED lights are capable of targeting
these wavelengths. It was also revealed in a recent study that using LED lights as an alternative to the
traditional lighting used in greenhouses reduces consumption of energy and in a way increases its efficiency
making it more environmental friendly. Most importantly, LED lights radiate more light and less heat which
can be very advantageous since too much heat has harmful effects to the plants.