AEssenseGrows, an ag-tech company specializing in automated aeroponic platforms for high-yield plant production, introduced a cost calculator to help customers manage electricity expense and increase profitability.

(Image: AEssenseGrows)

"AEssenseGrows is all about removing the guesswork and surprises from indoor farming, from the cost of investment through the quality and size of yields," said Phil Gibson, vice president of Marketing at AEssenseGrows. "Our new cost calculator will help our customers get a solid estimate on one of their key upfront and recurring expenses—lighting—so they can be better informed to optimize their business."

With the cost calculator, customers can enter such variables as the number of grow lights, cost of electricity, number of daylight hours, cost of maintenance and labor, and cooling efficiency. The projected cost trade-offs based on different lighting technologies—investment and annual operating expense--will appear immediately.

The calculator analyzes the costs of owning and operating traditional HPS lights and the company's premium LED lights. The calculator finds, for instance, that at 12 cents per kilowatt hour, a 1,000-light grow using the LEDs would save growers $1.19 million over 5 years compared to using HPS lights, with the breakeven point at 21 months. For growers paying 20 cents per kilowatt hour, that same 1,000-light grow with LEDs would save $2.26 million over five years compared to HPS lights, with the breakeven point at just 13 months.

(Image: AEssenseGrows)

The cost calculator works in concert with lighting products for the company's AEtrium Systems, which is a platform to produce high-quality crops while reducing the requisite amount of water, nutrients and labor of traditional farming. These modular aeroponic grow systems help customers achieve up to 40 percent higher year-round yields and faster profitability.

The AEtrium System lets users easily monitor grow conditions through a blanket of precision sensors controlled by the Guardian™ Grow Manager software.  Optimal delivery of nutrients to indoor plants is guaranteed with confidence from recipe creation through irrigation execution, with the constant attention to detail that automation provides.  Every sensor reading is processed and mirrored to the AWS cloud, providing a perfect data record for any grow cycle and any plant variety. 

AEssenseGrows will demonstrate its advanced aeroponics systems at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit March 20-21 in San Francisco, Calif.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-startup was recently selected by Ackrell Capital as one of the firm's Top 100 Private Cannabis Companies for 2018.