this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
49 points (98.0% liked)
Gardening
6453 readers
112 users here now
Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I meant energy costs for the microgreens setup specifically, but it sounds like they are very low, and so you don't measure them. Electricity is stupidly expensive where I live, which is why I was asking. Thanks!
I suspect this is due to the lights that OP is using.
I start seeds every spring and keep them under 3x "big" grow lights for around 14 hours a day. I drive a Volt (plug-in hybrid with a 16ish kwh battery) around 200-250 miles/week on mostly battery. I do most of my charging at home. This month the Volt has consumed around 170 kwh. The lights have consumed 141 kwh in the same time period. The next thing on the list is our refrigerator with 36.5 kwh.
At this rate, the lights will use 255 kwh for the month.
On the plus side, our seedlings are not leggy. On the downside, that's around $50/month for the two months a year the lights are on.
Thank you!
255 kWh would cost me around $80
Here are the lights I'm using, should help do the calculation for you. I have to run them for about 8-10 hours a day, 8 of them. But yea, for me these lights are nothing compared to other things like my refrigerator and air conditioner in summer.