RedSea Wins Davidson Prize For Heat Blocking Technology
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers presented the sixth-annual Davidson Prize at Commodity Classic. The award went to the top three innovative products selected from among 50 honorees. RedSea won an award for the Iyris Heat-Blocking Greenhouse Roof. Dr. Ryan Lefers is the co-founder and CEO of RedSea.
Lefers… “The specific innovation that we’ve brought is nanotechnology that we add into the roof when it’s manufactured. We apply this nanotechnology in the manufacturing process so that it's mixed into the roof material. What it means is that you get your light coming through the roof as you need in a greenhouse to grow your crops, but it blocks heat at the greenhouse roof. About half of solar radiation is heat, and about half is light, give or take, so this allows you to tune the amount of heat that comes through that roof. So, we can turn it up or turn it down so that you can have more or less heat coming through. And that, in turn, means that you keep the environment where you're growing your crops more optimum for what you need.”
Lefers says it’s an honor to win the Davidson Prize.
Lefers… “We do see this as something that's game-changing for people who are growing crops in greenhouses, especially who are struggling with heat at certain times of the year and just enabling them to be more profitable, as well as more sustainable.”
For more information on the Davidson Prize winners, go to aem.org.