To be honest PetFlora,my brother...
I have thought ,also of it ..(althought it took me,about 37 years,to do so and not just 13....!!! )
SDS 's Alchemy says :
Plants belong to first evolved life forms....
They produce their own food ...
They do not "act " as we humans ,define "action " ...
They produce carbonhydrates ( energy stored in chemical form =sugars / starch ) using sunlight as primary enegy source ...
They harvest photons / EM waves ,turn them into electricity ( electrons ) and with that electricity used ,the plants " break up "the assimilated water into
Oxygen ( evolved Oxygen ) and Hydrogen ...Then, they combine Hydrogen with assimilated CO2 and produce organic molecules of carbonhydrates...
( Small molecules i.e glucose,sucroze,fructose,ect = energy ...Polymerised into long chains = Cellulose, main "building material" of plants =biomass )
So ,in fact ,higher plants are the best photovoltaic systems ..
Imagine a GM organism, for producing electricity : Common climbing Ivy with genes from Electric eel (Electrophorus electricus)..Ta -Daaaannnnn!!!!! )
And yes, going the opposite way...
Designing a led light source,for the best of photovoltaic systems on Earth ,is quite tricky in general ..
With driver/led efficiency,cooling ,plug efficiency ,heat losses of power,ect to be the "technical " part of the design...
The " biological " part is a whole different world...
For some reason ,we humans,think of plants ,same organisms like us...
That they eat like us ,need some sleep like us ,ect...
They are totally different from us...
In many-many ways....
Anyway....
I only know some basic stuff,ok ?
Like ....
That as long there is light ,plants " work "....
If there is not light ,plants "spend stored energy " for "search " of light...
They do not work...Neither they do ..."sleep"...
Or...
That ,they adjust their canopies ,pretty easily ,according to light ...
And the gather light by effective leaf canopy surface...
Not by how much is the power of light source...Not only by that parameter,at least..
Simple stuff...
Once plants "tricked " to react to a "lack " of light or "special pressure " ,
then canopy effective surface can be increased ,leaf angle towards direction of light can be enhanced ,
leaf stem length can be controlled to suit the needs of grow space,leaf blades can change form ,ect....
By building a rich and effective foliage at vegetative stage ,a plant will have more chances for a great reproductive stage..(Thus final yields...)
Plants ,do have something in common with us humans....
They get " lazy "..
Once there isn't the "pressure" or "stimulus" there anymore ...
They do not REACT..(So..Plants,might not act ..But,they react... )..
Or even worse...
When much of something "good " (say....66..nutrients I meant...Say,nutrients....) is given to them....
They get " twisted "...
People say ,they get good results ,with those and that...
Comparing to what ? To same Wattage HID ?
To CFLs ? To white leds ?
Plants....
These green ,
( more of a brown really,if we could see their true color ...)
photovoltaic ,biomass ( and many more ...) generators ...
They want to gather light all the time ..
.As much as possible...
And they use all the light they can get ...
They can grow with only blue and red light ...
They can grow with either blue or red solely....
The question (very easy one....once logic is used ) is ,in which light ,plants do thrive ?
And how exactly ?
Human light power or photon efficiency or photon numbers ,doesn't mean a thing to plants...
They " sense " the "world " ,in very different ways than we do....
But yes...
General speaking ,as "rich" & "full " light everywhere over them ,
coming from everywhere around ,is what they like most....
Now ,..If it is powerful also...?
Even better....
It's a common secret to Alchemy...