Each light is 19 pounds and is about 10"x8".
There are two reasons the light is the size that it is. First temperature. We have a passive heat sink with fins and a plastic remote phosphor sheet. Both have to stay relatively cool and more surface area makes this possible.
Its funny, the first fixture we built and sampled to growers was about 25x smaller. We used an active heat sink and a glass phosphor sheet. A common complaint was "why is this so small?" I want my lights to be "big and strong". We took this feedback and decided to move to passive design.
Our original logic was that smaller is better, especially in a greenhouse. The most efficient light is one that is off and the less shading of sunlight the better.
I think small lights could be a really good market for you, for all the urbanites like me, living in condos. Make a tiny kit that can grow herbs or lettuce at an accelerated rate using little power because of LEDs, and I'd buy it in a second.
As it stands, I think a 1m strand of TL-RL20 will be a purchase for me soon, and I'll build the kit myself.
Indoor farms, especially in Japan, have been using LED lights for a while. Red/blue combos, in the pink/purple range, seem to work best.[1] The big advantage of LED lighting is not the reduced power consumption, but the reduced heat. The lamps can be closer to the plants without cooking them, which means the trays can be stacked closer and the density of the operation goes up. For most non-druggie applications, the plants aren't that tall. So small, distributed lighting units are used, instead of huge ceiling lamps.
Some plants can be overclocked. They do need a light/dark cycle, but it can be shorter than 24 hours. The life cycle of the plant is then sped up.
[1] http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/2160219...