This is possibly only marginally related to "local food," but bear with me. Part of eating local is, if you have the space, interest and ability, raising your own food. This time of year, folks are starting tomatoes and other seedlings, and having a grow-light is a real help in that regard, allowing your plants to get healthy light 24/7. For all their helpfulness, though, fluorescent growlights are not as efficient as they might be.
Electronics geek Mikey Sklar has figured out how to make a super-efficient grow light from pulsed LEDs. He's posted complete schematics and assembly details at his site, so you can build your own if you like tinkering with a soldering iron. He'll also sell you a finished unit if you're not up to etching your own PCBs. Energy-efficient local production...awesome.
SEPT - Super Efficient Photosynthesis. A grow light made from red and blue LEDs being pulsed. This light fits inside a Altoids container and requires less than 1.1W of energy to grow a 6"x6"x6" space. Lights can be chained to grow more plants. Total lumens = 111. Plants need primarily red (680nm) light to grow and a small amount of blue (440nm) light. By pulsing the LEDs at 720Hz or higher the plant can achieve maximum growth with a minimal amount of energy.
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