Scientists at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) are trying to demonstrate how theagrivoltaic, a system of growing plants in the shade of solar panels, can be improved by using an optimal light spectrum.
Under controlled laboratory conditions, they created a model to reproduce the response of plants to different ranges of light. Not only that: they conducted a sensitivity analysis on solar energy at the same time. The result? They found that red light is more effective for plant growth, while blue light is more efficient for solar energy production. I'll link you here the search.
Evolution or Death: The Path of Light
Professor Majdi Abou Najm, associate professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis is certain: we cannot feed the 2 billion additional people who will be added over the next 30 years simply by improving water efficiency. We need something radical and transformative, not just small adjustments. By harnessing the sun as an energy source, we could use the shade to generate electricity while growing our crops. In this way, kilowatt hours would become a kind of “secondary crop”. Although this is currently only a laboratory study, it can help the agrivoltaic explosion.
The key to everything is always the same: light. In addition to being a fundamental element for our lives and for our physical and mental well-being, it drives the most important dynamics on the planet. In other words: it can give us all the food and energy we need. Innovations that make the most of light energy will eventually revolutionize the entire world. Laboratories all over the world are working on solutions of all kinds: numerous examples have already emerged in the field of agrivoltaics: among instruments capable of collect sunlight and transmit it into underground environments, systems that match solar systems to irrigation systems, solar greenhouses and anything else.
In short (Italian only)
Agrivoltaics represents a valid alternative for the production of sustainable electricity and for the valorisation of rural areas. And this study, while currently confined to the laboratory, is an important contribution to global research on how to feed the world despite climate change.
