LESA, Cornell and NYSERDA announces the launch of a multidisciplinary consortium to reduce electricity use in greenhouses up to 70%. Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE), a seven-year $5 million project funded by NYSERDA, is being launched to transform the way greenhouses operate reducing both energy cost and carbon footprint. Dr. Tessa Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA will lead the work at Rensselear.
Recent advances in solid state lighting technology are enabling the development of ‘designer’ crops, according to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute plant physiology expert Dr. Tessa Pocock, who serves as a senior research scientist at the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA). The impact of lighting on plants is the core focus for Pocock, who conducts research in both academic and industry settings around the mechanism of photosynthesis on plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants. Recently, Pocock and her team received a $25,000 grant from Dr. William Beers, Black Belt/Senior Systems Engineer at Current, powered by GE, to support continued work on sensing and signaling in plants.
Dr. Tessa Pocock was awarded the Robert W. Langhans Visiting Scholar at Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science. Each year this Visiting Scholar Program brings a renowned scientist in greenhouse technology and management to lecture and interact with students over the course of several days to their Ithaca campus. This year Dr. Pocock will spend May 8-10 on their campus and will provide a lecture entitled “Light Matters: Sensing and Signaling in Plants”. Dr. Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA, is a world-renowned speaker and researcher on plant photosynthesis and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
LESA graduate Jessica Morrison was chosen as one of ten innovators in Cohort Three of Cyclotron Road, an incubator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that aims to bridge the science-to-product gap by investing in energy entrepreneurs through its two-year fellowship program. Dr. Jessica Morrison received her PhD in Physics from Boston University in 2016 and has since founded Helux Lighting as a spin-off of her work at LESA on beam-steering micro-mirrors. Applicants must go through a rigorous four-month long selection process. The ten innovators of Cohort Three represent eight universities across the US. The Cyclotron program innovators will begin their journey in May, 2017.
LESA Alum Dr. Jessica Morrison has formed a startup, Helux Lighting, Inc to bring dynamic optical control to the market through microtechnology developed at Boston University. These micro-mirrors are an example of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) that can steer a beam of reflected light by applying a voltage. The tiny mirrors steer light faster that the human eye can detect and facilitate rapid control over light position, brightness, and illumination area. The competitive advantage of Helux technology is a tenfold reduction in size and lower cost when compared to existing mechanical systems for light control.
Dr. Tessa Pocock was awarded the Robert W. Langhans Visiting Scholar at Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science. Each year this Visiting Scholar Program brings a renowned scientist in greenhouse technology and management to lecture and interact with students over the course of several days to their Ithaca campus. This year Dr. Pocock, LESA Plant Physiologist, will spend May 8-10 on their campus and will provide a lecture entitled “Light Matters: Sensing and Signaling in Plants”. Dr. Pocock, Senior Research Scientist at LESA, is a world-renowned speaker and researcher on plant photosynthesis and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
Rensselaer, Cornell and NYSERDA create a consortium to reduce electricity use in greenhouses by up to 70%
Now, a newly formed public-private consortium called GLASE—The Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering Consortium, led by researchers at Cornell University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)—is being launched to transform the way greenhouses operate in order to reduce electricity use by 70 percent.
The seven-year, $5 million project funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will advance Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard that aims to have 50 percent of electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2030.
Plant physiology expert Tessa Pocock, who serves as a senior research scientist at the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA), will lead the work at Rensselaer.
The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) held their 8th Annual Industry-Academia Days Conference on February 8-9, 2017 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY. This annual conference brought together LESA researchers and students to showcase innovations in research initiatives and educational activities to industry representatives. This year’s conference had over 100 industry attendees from approximately 64 distinct organizations and was the largest conference we have held to date.
Industry Meets Academia: LESA has a Record-Setting Attendance at Annual Conference. The Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) held their 8th Annual Industry-Academia Days Conference on February 8-9, 2017 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, NY. This annual conference brought together LESA researchers and students to showcase innovations in research initiatives and educational activities to industry representatives. This year’s conference had over 100 industry attendees from approximately 64 distinct organizations and was the largest conference we have held to date.
Dr. Karlicek will present “SSL and IoT: Growing Pains and Future Outcomes” on March 1 at the 2017 Strategies in Light Conference held at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA from February 28 – March 2, 2017. His presentation will discuss the current market turmoil driven by the confluence of two disruptive technologies, LED lighting and ubiquitous sensing and control (Internet of Things) is opening new market opportunities for augmented lighting systems. (more…)
