Are you wondering what the electricity costs of growing microgreens indoors are? I explain how to calculate them in this post.
If you’re like me, one thing I was worried about before I started a business growing and selling microgreens, was how much it would cost in electricity each month to run the lights.
I searched YouTube and Google for information on it, but I couldn’t find anyone discussing the electricity cost of growing and selling microgreens.
So I done my own research on the subject, and I’m going to provide the answer that I was looking for and the one you’re looking for now.
Gather the Needed Information First
To work out the electricity costs of your microgreens grow room, you’re going to need certain information:
- The wattage of your lighting fixtures – this can usually be found on the light bulb.
- The number of hours they will be turned on each day.
- The price you pay per kilowatt (kWh) of electricity to your provider – you should find this on your electricity bill.
Cost Calculation Explained
To explain it, I’m going to use one of my shelving units as an example. On this unit I have a light over each shelf.
They are Sunblaster nanotech T5 reflector lights, which are great lights by the way. The bulbs are 54 watts each. You can buy them on Amazon here.
I’m paying $0.10 per kilowatt of electricity used. I’m leaving the lights on for 12 hours per day.
So now it’s just a maths equation.
The first thing to do, is to find out how much energy the lights consume each day. We’re going to start by multiplying the wattage of the light by the number of lights.
Number of Lights x Wattage of each Light = Total Wattage
There are four 54 watt lights on my shelving unit, so to use mine, it would be:
4 x 54w = 216 watts
We’re then going to multiply the total wattage by the number of hours the lights are on each day, and divide it by 1000.
Total Wattage x Hours on per Day ÷ 1000 = Kilowatts (kWh) used per Day
My shelving unit:
216w x 12 ÷ 1000 = 2.59 Kilowatts used per Day
To find the amount of energy used each month just multiply the Kilowatts used per day by 30 (30 days).
Kilowatts (kWh) used per Day x 30 = Kilowatts (kWh) used per month
My shelving unit:
2.59 x 30 = 77.7 Kilowatts (kWh) used per month
Then lastly, to find out the total monthly cost of the lights, we’re going to multiply the Kilowatts (kWh) used per month by the price you pay your provider per Kilowatt (kWh) of electricity.
Kilowatts (kWh) used per month x Cost per Kilowatt (kWh) = Total cost per Month
My shelving unit:
77.7 x $0.10 = $7.77 per month
Under $8 per month is a low cost to pay in my opinion for running a shelving unit like this. I can grow a lot of microgreens on these shelves each month. But this is just an example of my set up.
Check Your Electricity Costs
You need to check your own electricity costs, and if they’re high, maybe you should look at changing provider. Perhaps electricity is cheaper to use at night with your provider and that’s when you choose to run your lights to take advantage of the lower cost. That is what I do, the price per kilowatt is literally half price at night on my plan.
Another variable is the wattage of the bulbs you are using, you need to be careful of this, buying cheaper lights may cost you more in the long run if you aren’t aware of their wattage when you’re buying them.
Also be careful with LEDS, while they are a more energy efficient light, you may need a lot of them to get good growing results, which in the end may cost more to run than a good quality fluorescent light.
I hope you found this post helpful, and now you’re equipped with the knowledge you need to work out the electricity costs of your microgreens business.
Thanks so much for reading.
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