Dashboard
Dashboard
Calculate the electricity consumption and running cost of your grow setup. Optionally enter your grow area to estimate the Daily Light Integral (DLI).
Quality LED panels (≥2.0 μmol/J) deliver the most light per watt. T5 and budget LEDs use significantly more power for the same DLI — check the efficacy figure on the spec sheet.
Herbs & leafy greens: 16–18 hrs. Fruiting crops (tomatoes, peppers): 18 hrs during vegetative growth, then 12 hrs to trigger flowering. Seedlings can run up to 20 hrs.
Optionally add pumps, fans, heaters, or any other equipment.
Check your energy bill for the exact rate. US residential rates average around $0.17 per kWh.
Enter your light setup to see power and cost estimates.
Key lighting concepts for beginners
Photoperiod — how many hours your lights are on per day. This directly affects your electricity bill and controls flowering in some crops.
PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) — light intensity at the canopy in μmol/m²/s. Think of it as the rate photons hit your plants. 400–600 suits leafy greens; 600–900 suits most crops; fruiting plants at peak need 900+.
DLI (Daily Light Integral) — total light per day (PPFD × hours). This is the number that governs growth rate and yield. Leafy greens need 12–17 mol/m²/day; fruiting crops need 20–35.
kWh — the unit on your electricity bill. Multiply daily kWh by your rate to get your exact daily running cost.
Switch to a quality LED panel. A 200–250W quality LED (≥2.5 μmol/J) can match a 600W HPS output, cutting your light electricity bill by ~40%. Biggest single saving available — usually pays back within a grow season.
Run lights during off-peak hours. Many providers offer time-of-use or smart tariffs with significantly cheaper overnight rates. Check whether your supplier has one, then schedule your photoperiod to fall in the cheap window — plants don't care when the lights come on.
Trim your photoperiod. Most leafy greens and herbs yield near-identically at 16h vs 18h. Dropping 2 hours saves ~11% of your light electricity with minimal impact on growth.
Add reflective surfaces. Mylar sheeting or flat white-painted walls reflect stray light back to the canopy. More of your light does useful work, so you can achieve the same DLI with a lower-wattage fixture.
Put secondary components on timers. Circulation fans, extraction fans, and nutrient delivery pumps rarely need to run 24h. A $10 outlet timer can meaningfully cut those background costs.