Energy Efficient Lighting

Incandescent lighting though effective providing a wide level of control of poultry house light intensites typically required to produce broilers, is far from energy efficient. Only 20% of the energy used by a incandescent light bulb is used to produce light. The remainder is put off in the form of heat.. Though LED and fluroscent lighting are capable of reducing lighting costs by 70% or more they are not without problems. The amount of light produced by the typical LED bulb is not sufficient for the brooding phase of a growout while dimming a compact fluorescent lights have proved to be very difficult, without sacrificing bulb life. Field trials of various lighting systems are currently underway in an effort to find a cost effective lighting system that can provide both the lighting levels we need that is also energy efficient.