Energy Efficiency Assessment in Hydroponic Systems for Return on Investment (RoI) Enhancement

Engineering notes

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Chinese explanation / 中文解读

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Original abstract

Hydroponic agriculture offers an alternative to conventional farming by enabling higher yields in limited spaces with precise control of nutrients and water. However, its reliance on continuous pumping and monitoring devices results in high energy consumption, increased operational costs, and a slower return on investment (RoI). This paper addresses this issue by developing a solar - powered hydroponic system integrated with floating sensors and an Arduino -based controller to reduce unnecessary pump operation and energy cost. The system was installed at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) and monitored for 12 days, with real -time logging of temperature, water level, voltage, and current. Compared with a standard hydroponic system, the proposed setup reduced pump operating cycles and improved energy efficiency. The economic analysis showed that the RoI was –9.56% in the first harvesting session due to the initial setup cost. However, the RoI increased to 80.83%, 171.21%, and 261.65% in the second, third, and fourth harvesting sessions, respectively. The payback period was estimated at approximately two harvesting cycles. These findings indicate that integrating renewable energy with automated water -level control can reduce operating costs and accelerate RoI in hydroponic systems. Future work may include IoT -based monitoring, advanced control strategies, and testing across different crop types and system scales to further improve economic and environmental sustainability.

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