Technology Catalog for Controlled Environment Agriculture

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) offers a promising solution for reliable, high-yield food and floriculture production in the face of natural hazards, water scarcity, and land constraints. Yet, despite its potential, CEA can be hindered by high energy demands, elevated operational costs, and questions about its true environmental performance. To address these challenges and support informed technology selection and deployment across the CEA sector, this report presents a comprehensive CEA technology catalog designed to guide decision makers, developers, and policymakers.

This project aims to:
• Identify and characterize technologies that improve energy and water efficiency in CEA facilities.
• Support the efficient and accelerated adoption of CEA systems.
• Provide a standardized framework for comparing technologies across facility types, climate zones, and crop categories.

The catalog covers more than 80 technologies, spanning six major categories:
• Energy Systems: Including solar photovoltaics, combined heat and power, geothermal, energy storage, microgrids, and demand-side management.
• Water Management: Including reduction, recycling, filtration, and treatment strategies.
• Building Envelope: Featuring innovations such as smart glazing and transparent photovoltaics.
• Hardware: Focusing on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, lighting, and other essential equipment.
• Process: Including environmental monitoring, predictive controls, and sensors.
• CO₂ Utilization: Covering sources such as combustion, fermentation, direct air capture, and advanced distribution systems for the purpose of increasing crop yields

Each technology is assessed using a combination of quantitative metrics and qualitative metrics (e.g., retrofit feasibility, spatial footprint, longevity).

This catalog provides a foundational framework for scaling CEA responsibly and cost-effectively. By offering a clear, data-informed roadmap of available technologies and their tradeoffs, the project helps pave the way toward a more efficient and accessible CEA future—one that meets food and floriculture demands while reducing operating costs and improving long-term business viability.